Knitting, Crocheting and Fluting

Last week I was over at Mom's for lunch. I did a load of laundry. We got caught up. And after lunch we sat at the table and knit. She had two projects going for Grace's Shawl Ministry, one that needed more focus and one that could be done while engaging in conversation. I was working on the shawl with the small square pattern and talked about one or two ideas I had for the next one. Mom pointed out that there was no reason I couldn't have more than one project going at a time.

Mom, you created a monster! By the time I finished the knit shawl I'd also finished the green crocheted shawl and started two others, one knit and one crochet.Once the knit one was finished, I started another knit one with a slightly more complicated pattern that I'd found online. I had to look up a couple of the stitches, but it didn't seem to be too difficult.

Wrong. First, I had to learn a new method of casting on, which took several tries. Then I had to see if I could actually do the new stitches. That actually didn't take very long. However, once I started working the actual shawl things got complicated. The alternating increases and decreases were hard for me to keep track of and end up with the same number of stitches at the end of each row of knitting. Three times I got to the seventh or ninth row and had to tear the whole thing out , and I unknit rows several times. Finally, I realized that I had to go slowly and really focus on what I was doing.

I had a similar problem with the new crocheted shawl I'd started. It isn't a difficult pattern, but I kept finding places where I'd skipped a space or added a block. While it's easier to tear out rows of crochet, it's no less frustrating. Again, I forced myself to slow down.

So this morning I was practicing my flute. I've been using M. A. Reichert's 7 Daily Exercises for Flute. My friend Jonathan recommended them and told me that they should be played slowly and musically. Given the copy I had (which I've since replaced) and the change of key every line or so, slowly is the only way I can play them, although I am improving. I also only play one during a practice session rather than all seven. And they are musical, much more interesting to play than the Taffanel Gaubert exercises. After I finished my Reichert exercise for the day, I moved on to a new Daily Exercise from Fredrick the Great's Flute Book: 100 Daily Exercises for Flute. No, I don't play all 100 daily! Since it was a new exercise, I played it through a couple of times and then began working on it measure by measure. Slowly.

I was having a little trouble with one of the runs and started to get frustrated. That's usually the signal for me to stop what I'm working on and move on to something else or end the practice session for the day. Today it sparked a realization. I get so caught up in the technical aspects of playing the instrument that I forget that the purpose is to make music. Sometimes you have to tell your inner perfectionist to go to his or her room and just play for the joy of it.

And I need to keep reminding myself that the purpose of knitting or crocheting something is to create something beautiful and/or useful. Especially when I'm learning new stitches and patterns. Especially since there are now five projects in my needlework tote.

Mr. Inner Perfectionist, go to your room!