{"id":5372,"date":"2014-11-30T07:00:49","date_gmt":"2014-11-30T07:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=5372"},"modified":"2014-11-30T07:00:49","modified_gmt":"2014-11-30T07:00:49","slug":"the-dreaded-pink-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/knitting\/the-dreaded-pink-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"The dreaded pink thing…"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"This<\/a>
This bag of knitting has been lurking in my living room for months…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yesterday I broke a curse… well, kinda…<\/p>\n

As some of you know, I knit. And the dreaded pink thing is one of those projects\u00a0that I think all knitters trip over from time to time – the project from hell!<\/p>\n

It’s taken me months… no… if I’m honest, years to get it right.<\/p>\n

But I know I’m not alone – and I also know it’s not just about knitting…<\/p>\n

I think anyone who attempts something creative – knitting, writing, painting, playing an instrument –\u00a0has one – a Nemesis project.<\/p>\n

When I rediscovered knitting about\u00a0three years ago in New York, the very first pattern book I bought was from Rowan – because I really loved the look of their casual, slouchy cover-up. Lightweight and soft… it was exactly me.<\/p>\n

I bought the book first – then started looking for the right wool.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This is the lovely Rowan pattern I fell in love with – but I didn’t want to do it in white.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A year later\u00a0– I finally found the perfect yarn – at the right price here in London.\u00a0 I decided that would be my very next project.<\/p>\n

A year later (yep – one more year) – I finally started knitting it.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, I finished it… How long to knit it? No – not\u00a0a year – only about seven months.<\/p>\n

And I think the reason it took so long is all about the creative drive…. you see, I had to get it right, or at least as right as my knitting skills could make it.<\/p>\n

I knitted the back – realised I had made a mistake and pulled half of it out and knitted it again.<\/p>\n

I knitted the front and my tension got a bit loose – so it was going to be too big. I pulled it out and knitted it again.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/a>
In the middle of it all – I got so sick of the colour pink – I knitted these two other projects just so I would stop seeing pink every time I closed my eyes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then I knitted the neck band three times – the first time was just a mess. The second time I had four stitches out of place. Just four. No-one would have seen them… but I knew they were there. So I pulled it out and did it again.<\/p>\n

Then I sewed the cuffs – and decided they were two small, so I pulled that out and did that again too – because I knew I could do better.<\/p>\n

And that’s what it’s all about. Knowing I had done the very best job I could do.<\/p>\n

It’s the same when I write a book. When my readers open that book, I want it to be the very best book it can be. If there’s a flaw – even if I am the only person who notices it – then I haven’t done\u00a0my job\u00a0properly.<\/p>\n

That’s not to say my books are perfect – far from it – but every single one is the very best book I could write at that time.<\/p>\n

I am about to start doing the final edits on my second Coorah Creek book – which will be released next year and, by coincidence, includes a character who knits.\u00a0You can be sure I will go back and re-read and tweak it as many times as I have to – whether it’s a chapter that’s wrong – or just a single word that’s not quite right. Because I want it to be the very best it can be.<\/p>\n

And in the evenings, when I step away from the computer – I guess I’ll be starting my next knitting project. I’m not quite sure what it will be – but I can promise you this – it may be black or white or yellow or green.. maybe even blue. But it will not be pink!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Not<\/a>
Not quite as neat as the one in the pattern photo – but I like it and am planning to wear it this week when I have lunch with some writer friends!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I broke a curse… well, kinda… As some of you know, I knit. And the dreaded pink thing is one of those projects\u00a0that I think all knitters trip over from time…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-knitting","category-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5372\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}