Fragile or Fra-gee-lee

Last weekend we sorted and packed boxes at the former home of my father in law in another state.  He'd lived in the house for 30 years until he suffered a health issue that brought him to live with us.  His house has sold and we had one weekend to empty it of boxes, beautiful furnishings and various items.  All I can say is, Wow, I'm glad its over.

We are blessed in this nation to have so many things.  More things than we can care for and often so many things that we have to store them in a remote location.  I heard today that we only use 20% of our stuff.  I believe it!!

Before leaving on the trip, I made the decision to try to knit the Swallowtail Shawl.   I originally saw the pattern in Interweave Knits when it was first published.  Now its a trend and many, many people have made it.  That meant I had a slim chance of being able to make one myself.  I'm not a beginning knitter, but I'm definitely not an expert.  This pattern uses charts so I have been really intimidated until last week.


For some reason, I thought I'd give it a go.

So far, its pretty easy and I've ripped out a few rows.  Two lessons learned already that I will take seriously.
1. Use a life line. Just do it.
2. Use stitch markers. Just do it.

I can't imagine completing this shawl without those two things.  Especially the latter.  Once I got the rhythm of the pattern using the stitch markers, I got a little more confident that I would be able to finish it.

Its so easy to let fear of failure keep us from trying new things, or things we don't have confidence about.  Some people battle with their emotions, and mine is usually fear.  Recently I was asked to take on a volunteer role that I didn't feel really capable of accomplishing, mostly because I don't know where to begin.  But I heard an inspirational message today that really encouraged me to go for it, even if I fail. To regret not trying a thing is probably worse than messing something up that could be fixed later with some help from someone else.  So assuming I fail on some level, with this shawl or in my new position, I will decide now, ahead of time to ask for help.   Like they say, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again!