June 7, 2013

Process or product?

Do you knit for the process of knitting, or the product you’re producing?
I would suspect that for many of us it’s about both.

I love the process of knitting.
The basic act of pulling loops of string through loops of string.
I find it as natural as breathing.

It’s a meditation. Embodying ease, rhythm, fluidity, flow, peace, knowing.
Every time I pick up needles it’s an act of affirmation.
I know that I know how to knit.

But at the same time, I don’t knit just to knit.
I knit towards something.
Not necessarily towards a finished object, but maybe. Or maybe it’s a swatch, or an idea, or a thought.
But I don’t knit for the sake of knitting.
I may not always get where I was planning on going, but the intention is still there.

The intention shapes what, how and where I knit. But the intention isn’t the process, and it’s not the final produced, even though it shapes and guides both.

Do I knit for an intention?
I don’t think I knit for it, but I certainly knit with it.

I knit for the sake of creating.
I knit so I know that I know how to knit.
I knit to strengthen the connections, and reaffirm the process, to confirm that I can still pull loops of string through loops of string.

I engage in the process with the intention of creating a product.

But when it comes to pulling loops through loops, and piling stitches on top of each other, I knit so I know, that I know, how to knit.

I knit so I know, that I know, how to knit.

It’s the process that I’m engaged in. Maybe the product is more of a planned afterthought?

 

 

 

I've always just knit. I've never really asked why before.
I just knit, because I knit.

So this is me trying to tease out the why. 

And if I know me, tomorrow I'll disagree with half of this, 
and think the other half is trite. 

But that's tomorrow. 

For now, here we are.