Knitting and Patience

People believe knitting takes patience. 

68 stitch socks, 1-1 ribbed cuff and 3-1 ribbed leg and top of foot, 

(mine ravelled here)

knit in Lana Grossa Meilenweit 100 Bosco, color 3520

They're right, in a way. Knitting is slow. The problems comes from people believing "slow" equates to "bad." This is not true. Knitting has improved my life in lots of ways. Here are two of them:

1. I'm more willing to spend time on handmade things. If knitting a pair of socks takes 16-20 hours--I haven't timed myself because I don't really want to know--, then making five necklaces is a very productive way to spend 3 hours. Knitting has changed my perceptions about how long things should take. Someone might look at a project and say, "That'll take me hours!" whereas I'll look at the same project and say, "That'll take less time than it takes to knit half a sock!" Handmade takes time, and I'm okay with that.
2. I am more patient because I have something that requires a portion of my attention. I started those socks when we spent the day with an aunt and uncle that live out of town. The knitting helped me stay engaged. It doesn't take your entire brain to chat with people, and if I'm required to do it for a long period of time, I have to work hard to stay present. If I have something to do with my hands and a small portion of my brain, I find it easier to stay within the conversation.

Nonknitters don't get this, of course. They think you're not paying attention and you're spending time in stupid ways. They are wrong.

So, I had a nice, simple project to do while in the midst of other things, and Andrew got another pair of socks. Win-win.