Mid-life Without the Crisis

It really isn't the destination, but the journey. May be cliche, but it's true.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Learning Something New

My Granny "Square"
I had an interesting epiphany the other night.  But first, the back story...

My mom has always made beautiful crocheted gifts for family and friends.  This past Christmas, she made scarfs for the guys and house slippers with funny googly eyes for the grandsons.  (She also made bead earrings for all the gals.)  I have two beautiful afghans she has made for me, as well as bags and other gifts.  I decided that I would like to learn how to crochet so that I too can give these gorgeous, useful gifts from the heart.

So last Sunday afternoon I had my first lesson.  You can see in the picture above the lesson I'm currently working on.  It's called a Granny Square and can be used as a base for making lots of projects, plus it includes several basic stitches I need to know to build up to bigger tasks.  The middle is mostly the part my mom did to demonstrate the steps.  The second row is the one I did while Mom watched and helped me.  The outer row is the one I did by myself at home.  Can you see the downward progression?

So while I was unraveling the third row for about the third time and starting again, I commented to my husband that I knew what I was supposed to do, but it just wasn't turning out how it should.

Then came the epiphany.

Being the type of person who pretty much only learned things for academic reasons, once I learned something, I was done with it.  Mission accomplished.  Subject mastered.

But learning how to do something physical is different.  You can know in your head what to do without that translating into your body coming along for the ride.  Successful body movement is more than just knowing "how" to do something, but instead takes practice until the muscles also "know" what to do.

Understanding this is so simple and yet so profound to someone like me, who lives inside my head.  But my body is more than just a way to get my head where it wants to go.  It is part of me and I must let it learn what it needs to know through practice and repetition.  So if I don't get it right the first time, whether it's crocheting or running or doing yoga, I just have to try, try again.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looking pretty god. Keep on practicing. lol Mom

J.R. Davis said...

Thanks, Mom. You're the best.