I have been pondering “patience.”  Synonymous with: perseverance, forbearance, diligence, endurance, persistence — wonderful old school words!  It is also synonymous with the more teeth-gritting: resignation, passiveness, sufferance, stoicism, submission.  And also with those enlightened: calmness, composure, tolerance, serenity, humility.

Interesting.  It covers a lot.  And yet one of the admissions I hear most is “I am just not patient.”  Well, here’s the good news: you probably are!  Because there are, apparently, different kinds of patience.   There is the “doing” kind of patience (like diligence) and the “waiting” kind of patience (like stoicism) and the “accepting” kind of patience (like serenity).  And if you are over the age of two, you probably can find yourself in those words somewhere. 

But mostly I was thinking of patience in terms of knitting.  (You perhaps were expecting this to head in that direction) Because knitting does take patience.  I know that is true because so many people have told me they don’t knit because they don’t have the patience.  Ha ha!

Of course, I actually know it is true because of personal experience.  I enjoy knitting.  I am passionate about knitting.  I never get tired of knitting.  Nor do I ever find it boring.  But it still requires patience on my part.  All three kinds of patience.

The “doing” kind of patience because there are a hundred million million stitches in any project.  I am currently knitting a sweater with 212 stitches per row, a lace piece with 224 stitches per row, and a vest with 341 stitches per row.  And unlike carrots that grow on their own or bread that bakes in the oven, knitting does not happen unless you knit.  And you can knit for several hours without seeing much progress.  And later, you have to come back and knit more.  So, yeah,  persistence  and diligence are key!  

The “waiting” kind of patience because knitting takes time.  I admit that I am not a particularly speedy knitter — but however fast one knits it is a one-stitch-at-a-time process.  And with lace or any stitch patterning there is yarn maneuvering, counting, probably referencing a chart — and that all adds to the time per row.   There are only so many rows I can knit in an hour (less or more, depending on the length of the row and the kind of pattering involved, of course) and only so many hours in a day (most of which I do not spend knitting!).  So a garment will usually take weeks, even months to complete. (A caveat here:  I always have several projects going at once, so my progress is slower, in terms of an individual piece,  than if I knit exclusively on one at a time — but by having a variety of projects, I can utilize a variety of knitting opportunities, such as car travel or visiting with a friend over coffee or watching a movie) So, this is not like ordering a sweater from amazon and getting it in 2 days!

The “accepting” kind of patience because this is the nature of knitting!  And my process is my process — it is what it is.  And I have become content with it.  I also think that the constant practice of patience that comes with my knitting life helps me deal with the rest of my life better.  I have found being more patient makes me more peaceful 🙂