I’ve been dutifully knitting away on my Jack in the Pulpit Shawl. One row at a time. And somewhere along the way, I lost my infatuation with the shawl. I found myself knitting out of duty. I was knitting one stitch at a time, then one row at a time. It’s not really fun, but I’m determined to finish this shawl.

And the whole time I’m knitting all I can think about is all the other projects I could be knitting or starting and I’m just chaffing at the bit to be DONE with this damn shawl, already! And that’s when it hit me. I was relaxed. And despite my inner raging monologue, I was actually content. And strangely enough, enjoying myself without even realizing it.

I think that’s what the beauty of knitting is all about. Even when you think you don’t want to work on the project you’re dutifully knitting away on, the meditative quality of knitting lulls you into enjoying what you’re doing at that very moment even though your project que is 20 years long by the time you’re done. And honestly, isn’t that part of the fun? Figuring out what you’re next project is going to be?

But the really neat thing? When you actually knit on the project you want to finish? It gets closer to getting done.