Perspective in knitting and life

I was working with a lovely knitter the other day who was doing a striped hat.  She came in because she had a little hole an inch or so down near the beginning of a new round in a new color.  It was just the opening that forms naturally when you join a new color or a new skein, but this was a little larger and seemed a mess because the stitches on either side had loosened a bit.  I told her it was no big deal, and that we would fix it when she finished.  I said she'd be able to close the gap when she wove in her ends, and no one would ever notice it.  But it still worried her.  I could see her look at that place every time she came to the end of a round, but she said she would trust me, and went ahead knitting. 

Pretty soon she came to the place where she needed to start her decreases and got wrapped up in that, and then she was closing the top of the hat and ready to finish things off.  Then she said, "...and I want to fix that spot.  Where is it?  Wait.  I know it's here somewhere." Then she said what we were all thinking, "Isn't it funny how it seemed like such a big deal, and now I'm having a hard time finding it."  We all laughed and I think it was Gail who said, "That's a life lesson, isn't it!" 

It's a life lesson about perspective, something my son, Johnny has been struggling with these days.  After three different schools, two major surgeries, and 18 months of physical therapy, he had graduated from UMD with his friends, but he still had two classes to take to finish his major.  I think that's pretty amazing, but it's been eating at him that he didn't finish in 4 years as his sisters had.  Bill and I have told him over and over that in a year, none of it would matter.  In a year he'll have his degree and a job, and be well on his way in life.  Yeah yeah.  He sees our lips moving, but he's not really hearing us, and his frustration is a recurring theme in our late night conversations.  Last week I told him about the hole in the hat, and he listened and nodded and headed off to the gym.

Knitting has much to teach about life, and life about knitting, if we are mindful and listen.  Sunday, Johnny told me he'd been thinking about the hole in the hat and that in a year or so, none of this would matter. A different, and better, perspective Amen.

I look forward to seeing you in the shop and around the table - you are always welcome here.   ~Ellen