4 Lessons from Knitting a Little Red Vest
The time I told a bit of the story of knitting my little red vest and all of the stitches I had to rip out to get to the end. (back when we could gather for wise women panels)
A few years ago during The Year of the Travel in the summer of 2017, I visited Portland, OR for a conference called “The World Domination Summit.” It’s a convention for unconventional thinkers started by travel hacker Chris Guillebeau. I’d wanted to go to this convention for almost 8 years and I was stoked to finally get to experience it. It was also my first time in Portland Oregon and I found a famous knitting shop called “Knit Purl”. While I was at Knit Purl, I decided I was going to purchase all of the yarn, knitting needles, and a pattern for a sweater I would actually wear. I’d made sweaters in the past, but they normally seemed too homely to actually wear out and about. I was determined to get what I needed to make a sweater I would actually be proud to wear and say I made. I sprang for the more expensive wool yarn and a pattern by a famous knitting designer in New York.
I went about knitting that sweater and very quickly I found myself a little more than halfway done with the back panel. A few months later I had a long flight to India to visit my sister and I thought, “ok! I’ll knit on the flight over to India and that will help me pass the time”. I ended up not knitting at all on the flight over to India, and I didn’t knit at all while I was in India. For the flight home, I thought “I’ll definitely knit on the way home”. But when I got to the airport in India it turns out that they have different TSA rules than we do in the US and their TSA made me pull out my knitting needles and they threw my needles in the trash. I was so dejected because it meant that I had to rip out all of those stitches I’d already done and start over. It depressed me so much I didn’t pick up the sweater for another year. Finally, I picked up the sweater and started it over. It was now winter of 2018 and I was trying it again. I got a little past where I had been the first time I had to rip out the needles when I made a mistake and had to start all the way over at the beginning once again.
Ripping out the stitches again that winter was painful but I was determined that I was going to finish this sweater. At the time I was having a very bumpy time with my business, I felt like I was failing, I felt like nothing I was doing was working to get the business to where I would need it to sustain me. It felt like all of my work was as pointless as knitting just to have to rip it out all over again. But with the sweater unlike my work in the business, I knew what the outcome was supposed to look like. I knew what the steps were so I just kept knitting.
All in all, I had to rip out the back panel three times before I finished it. I had to rip out the front panel once before I finished it and I had to rip out some trim at least once before the sweater was finally finished. It’s like this in businesses, it’s like this in many important things we endeavor to do. Many times we try, and we fail, it feels like we are starting over from scratch but if I had stopped and given up completely the first time I had to rip out my knitting needles I never would have completed the vest and it wouldn’t be hanging in my closet for me to wear. I started with the end in mind but I stayed single-mindedly focused on the process before me and that’s what it took to complete the goal.
What I learned from knitting my little red vest
Set a goal for something you actually want: I wanted a sweater I would actually wear. I invested in it by purchasing the more expensive wool in a color I liked that I knew would look good. The investment in the materials gave me skin in the game with an outcome to look forward to. If I hadn’t bought the expensive yarn I might have just chucked the project after the knitting needles were ripped out the first time.
Start with the end in mind: I knew what the sweater was supposed to look like. I knew what it would take for me to make the sweater. I had the tools and the resources, all I needed to do was “do the work”. The only thing standing in the way of me having a beautiful sweater was my mindset and doing the work.
Failure is a part of the process: We will fail but it’s only failure if we don’t get back up and keep trying. Failing is an integral part of success.
Be anchored to the process, not the outcome: I stayed committed to the process, doing the work, starting over when I failed or made a mistake. I would get knocked down and I would start right back over because I knew what the steps were to take me to my goal. It took me longer than I expected it should but eventually I got there because I committed to the process.
Throughout the process of knitting my little red sweater, I just kept knitting. I might have to tear out whole pieces of my work. Those whole pieces of work represented hours and hours of work. I never stopped believing that I could keep putting in the work and that if I kept doing the work I would eventually hit my goal.
No matter what you are creating, making, or working towards there are going to be bumps in the road, there will be failures that gut you and bring you to your knees. There are going to be times when it feels like you are backtracking. There are going to be dark days when it doesn’t feel like you will ever hit your goal but if you stay focused on the work at hand, if you anchor yourself to the process you will achieve success.
What are you working towards that if feels like you are ripping out stitches on? Where does it feel like you need to start back at the beginning to get to where you need to go? If you have a goal you’re trying to achieve but don’t know how to get there, then let’s talk.
