Accidental Knitting Discoveries
Some of the best knitting surprises happen by accident
There have been many times when I start off with a plan of doing something a particular way and unforeseen events or circumstances cause me to veer off of my original plan, make adjustments and hope for the best. This happens not only when I'm knitting, but in my day-to-day activities as well.
Take that deviation and run with it!
For example, the other day, completely out of the blue, I was hit with one of the biggest cravings ever for rice crispy treats. It was one of those powerful, must-have moments that caused me to stop what I was doing, go to the kitchen and check my 'baking' supplies. (Yes, I consider making rice crispy treats baking, even though the oven doesn't even get turned on.)
Butter: Check! Marshmallows: Check! Crispy rice cereal: nope. No! No! No! No!!! This just can't be! Ooh, wait a minute. Is that cocoa crispies I see?
Hmmm... Let's give this a go.
Flash forward to about an hour later and already nearly half the pan of cocoa crispie treats has disappeared. No, I didn't have company that I shared with. Remember, I said the craving was one of the biggest ever.
Well, this was one of those moments that veering from the original plan certainly had fantastic results. At Saffron Knits, a fellow writer shares with us a similar example, except they discovered their lovely small surprise while doing a dyeing experiment.
"A while back, when I was experimenting with dyeing, I tried to dye some silk. But it didn't really turn out the way I'd hoped. I'd read that silk doesn't absorb water as quickly as wool so you need to soak it longer. So I did. The result was that the silk top seemed to disintegrate in the water. Not wanting to waste good fiber, I dyed it anyway, trying a technique that I came up with on the spot. I never really liked the final product so I didn't take pictures and hid it in my stash."
The pleasant small surprise came for them a few months later when they pulled out the hidden 'mistake' and proceeded to spin some of the loveliest yarn they have ever seen.
I think those moments that steer us away from our original plan are the work of a greater force trying to show us that we need to think outside of the box a little more often. Otherwise, we would miss out on so many of life's little surprises.
What experiences have you had that end up turning out better than you had originally expected? We would love to hear about them!
