Epiphany

I read through the "Welcome and General Information" pages... all 10 of them, and then started reading the Level 1 Instructions.  As I was reading through the instructions for the first swatch to be submitted, I felt as if I was reading a foreign language and had never knit a stitch in my life!  It was talking about the perils of not having even tension, not obtaining perfect gauge, having purl stitches looser than your knit stitches in 2x2 ribbing, misplacing increases in ribbing, improper blocking, how NOT to weave in ends.  Good grief!  Could all these horrific accidents happen in one simple swatch?  Maybe it was the language of the thing that was so intimidating.  There is even a "plan of action" for knitting these swatches, along with choosing the correct yarn and needles, calculating your gauge practically down to the last molecule... It just went on and on.  Then I went to the website and found the recommended bibliography.  It had seemingly pages of books to get us through this process. (Funny how many of those books I actually own!)

That's when I had my first epiphany of the Master Knitter process- this is not a frivolous title.  They are very serious about excellent knitting.  I suddenly felt like a hack, a fake.  Never mind I've knit lace, Aran sweaters with enough cabling to moor a ship, countless socks, afghans, baby clothes... well, let's face it.  I've been knitting for more than 40 years.  I've knit a lot!  But now I know that there is a whole lot of room for improving what I already know and learning a whole lot more that I never knew before.  This is NOT going to be a walk in the park!

I need to step back, and do what I know works for me when faced with a giant task to perform.  Take a deep breath and do it one step at a time.  If I look at the whole thing at once, it's too much.  Okay, now... deep breath... I think I can, I think I can.....