Great Knitting Advice from Dad

With Father’s Day coming up in many parts of the world (but not here in Estonia 😒) I’ve been seeing some posts about the best advice dad’s have given.

Here are three bits of wisdom that stuck out to me as particularly relevant to knitting:

“You can learn something from everyone”

This is a huge reason I LOVE our community members. They often jump in with answers to questions that others post, long before I ever get a chance. Not only that they offer multiple unique solutions to the problem.

Even folks who feel like they don’t have that much experience in knitting have interesting things to contribute. Whether it be a new pattern they found or video they saw or tip they learned at the local yarn store.

But more than that, this is a great way to look at the world. You can learn from people older or younger, who have different political or religious views, and who come from lower or higher economic backgrounds. We just have to be willing to listen…

“Measure progress against yourself, not others”

One of our Fearless Knitting mantras is “Embrace Your Mistakes” (maybe that would be a good T-Shirt 🤔).

It’s easy to look at other more accomplished knitters and think you’re not good enough. But those knitters have only gotten where they are because they have made more mistakes and learned from them.

If you’re trying to get better at golf you shouldn’t compare yourself to Tiger Woods. You should compare to your previous efforts. Even if you miss your shot, that’s a *good miss* because even your bad shots are getting better.

And in your knitting it’s ok to make mistakes. Those *bad stitches* are still better now than when you started.

“Just because it’s a good opportunity, it doesn’t mean it’s a good opportunity for you.”

This is something I wish my dad had taught me growing up.

When I started my professional knitting career I had the *great* idea to do a video knitting tutorial EVERY DAY.

And you know what?

I never achieved that goal. I’m not sure I went more than a couple weeks where I got 5 tutorials out in a row.

I launched 4 different knitting websites, manufactured a couple yarn lines, opened a yarn store, started a subscription box, and suffered from panic attacks on a regular basis.

I wanted to do EVERYTHING.

And as a result I wasn’t GREAT at anything.

It’s easy to get distracted by every shiny new yarn or knitting pattern or new technique discovery. I deal with it every day as I prepare these newsletters for you.

But you can’t do it all…

Pick something and do that. Do it to the best of your ability.

There will ALWAYS be something new, but don’t let the NEW be the enemy of the NOW.

Take joy in what you’re knitting today, and when that’s finished see what else is out there.

I’ll leave you with one thing I’ve learned from my own father.

“You’ve got to have the want to”

For me, this has meant pushing through the difficult moments in life to see success.

Whether that was the hard decision to close my yarn store after just 6 months, or choosing to start a project over because I knew I could do it better.

Having the want to makes you fearless.