Crafting to Perfection

For years, I crocheted and tried knitting and embroidery. My work was good, but sometimes it could have been better. In those years, I didn’t see the sense in “wasting time” by ripping it out and doing it over, to make it correctly. My best friend often ripped hers out and started again. I’d ask her why she bothered, and she’d say something about it not being “right.” My mother, through the years I was growing up, did the same thing. My work will never equal the quality of my mother’s handwork - it looked as though it came off of a machine, it was so even, so perfect.
About 10 years ago, my attitude changed. I wanted everything to be as good as it could be. I stopped being annoyed and reluctant to re-start a project. Little by little, I’ve become addicted to getting it right. Not paranoid-addicted, but happily so. Some patterns are difficult for me to understand. Re-starting the piece often brings enlightenment - an “aha!” moment. And that moment is a joy. Many times, those patterns become my favorites, and the favorites of those who receive them.
Other times, I have admitted that the pattern, or even the craft itself, just isn’t for me. Others can do it better, and I’d leave it to them. That’s what happened whenever I tried to knit - my tension was never right. When I tried embroidery, either cross-stitch or crewel, my work would be tight and the fabric showed it in the way it bunched and pulled where the stitches were made. I finally gave up on them, and played with other media. It’s a learning process, but an enjoyable one when I finally discover a new way to do things, a new craft, a new love.