What is it about patience that seems so elusive sometimes? Many people have told me that I’m a patient person. And that’s “somewhat” true. I’m usually patient when I’m teaching a crochet class. However, I’m not patient about everything! Take last Monday, for example.
On Monday, I had to return a DVD to the library because I had already renewed it 3 times! Obviously, I am a HUGE procrastinator! But that’s a subject for another day! (Note: I asked my husband to read this blog post and he said I should tell you about another library book that I renewed 3 times. I never really finished reading the whole book. And the subject of the book: procrastination, of course!).
Anyway, I wanted to watch the DVD before I returned it. When I went to play the DVD on my laptop, I didn’t have a program to play DVDs on my laptop anymore (my husband had changed the hard drive on my laptop to help it run faster and he didn’t download a program to play DVDs on my laptop after the installation, so it wasn’t there)! Now I’m NOT an electronic person (ask anyone who knows me well and they’ll agree). In fact, I call myself “electronically challenged”! I’m not as bad as some people when it comes to electronics, but I have a LONG way to go to be comfortable with them all the time. I can do lots of things on my laptop, like type my crochet/knit patterns, download and manipulate digital photos, create symbol crochet charts, create knitting charts and more! I even have a smart phone now that doesn’t scare me too much! So I’m not a total imbecile with electronics! They’re just not always my friends. And I get frustrated with them easily, unlike my husband, who is an electronic genius!!!
A few minutes after I realized that I didn’t have a program on my laptop to play the DVD, my husband called. He tried to talk me through downloading the program to play the DVD, but I clicked on the wrong “download” button and something else was starting to download instead! Also, the internet went down (I can’t remember if it was before or after trying to download the program). He talked me through unplugging the power to the modem and plugging it back in (and telling him which lights were flashing so he’d know if there was a big problem or if it was just resetting itself). Is this starting to sound like an “I Love Lucy” episode? Wait, it gets better!
After closing the window where the “other” program was downloading, my husband suggested that I watch the DVD on the TV. Well, you have to realize that I’m much more comfortable with the “old-fashioned” TV and DVD set up (where you push the power button and play button on the device itself), not the complicated set up that we have now! There are 6 remote controls in our living room! That’s right, 6!!! Some of them are labeled, but I am NOT the person who uses them in the evening, that’s my techie husband (I just sit happily crocheting and/or knitting and look up at the TV sometimes when the show gets good)! So I’m not familiar with what each remote actually controls. There’s the TV, the receiver and the DVD player (and possibly more that I don’t know about and frankly, don’t care about!). We also have DirecTV, which is a whole ‘nother ball game, especially for this wife who doesn’t usually even touch the remote controls (unless I’m straightening up or cleaning), much less USE them!
So imagine an episode of “I Love Lucy” when Ricky is trying to get Lucy to understand how to do something. Do you have that image in your mind? Good. Obviously, I’m Lucy and my husband is Ricky. He’s trying to tell me (over the phone) which remote control to use and which button to push on each remote control. There’s a certain progression of which electronic to turn on first and sometimes you have to push a button on the right remote control to change the control to the specific electronic element that you want to control! I told you it was complicated, especially for those of us who are “electronically challenged”! Well, the story has a good outcome and he talked me through everything I needed to do with the TV, DVD player and receiver in order to watch the DVD before having to return it. The DVD was Doris Chan’s video from Interweave Crochet. The subject was crocheting a garment from the top down, which I’ve done before, but I wanted to learn more from the “master” of top down garments, Doris Chan! And I finally found the “right” button to push to control the volume (each remote control has a volume button or two, but none of them was working for me until I used the “right” one!). If you’d like more information on Doris’ crochet video, you can see it here. The video is available in DVD format, regular video download or high definition video download.
Well, what does this story have to do with crocheting and knitting? Here’s my take on it…
When you’re new to learning something (whether it’s a skill like crocheting/knitting or using remote controls for electronics), you NEED to have patience with yourself. Obviously, I didn’t have much patience with myself and was totally frustrated (which my puppy picked up on right away, making my frustration worse!). It’s funny how I usually have patience with myself when I’m learning something new in the fiber realm (crocheting and knitting), but I have little patience when it comes to learning electronics! But I AM improving, since a year or two ago, I never wanted to have a smart phone and here I am with one now! Sometimes I’m patient when I’m learning something new on my smart phone and other times I’m not. But at least I’m learning and not shying away from it. Now if I can just learn to use the remote controls for the TV, receiver and DVD player (until my husband reconfigures the electronics once again and it’ll all change!).
So how much patience do you have with yourself when you’re learning something new? Are you like me, trying to learn something about electronics and getting frustrated with it? Or do you have patience with yourself when learning a new crochet/knit technique (or learning to crochet or knit for the first time)? Like most things in life, having patience with yourself (and others) is something we should all strive to have more of each day. I fell flat on my face on Monday, but each day is a new day and I’m striving to do much better!
It’s funny how being stressed out and frustrated can affect other people (and animals), too. Our puppy, Maggie, did something on Monday afternoon while I was at my weekly knit/crochet group at the library. She decided that her bed was a chew toy and chewed up about half of it. I came home to pieces of foam and fluff all over the living room floor! It was a big mess! About 10 minutes later, my husband came home and we both cleaned it up (I waited on cleaning it up so he could see what a mess our “cute little puppy” had made)! Well, the bed may not be a total loss, but it definitely won’t be the same as it was before she chewed the hole in it and removed half of the stuffing! We were both ready to spit nails (again)! The rest of this week, Maggie has been happy and hasn’t chewed up anything else, I think because I haven’t gotten that stressed out again!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this true life story and you’re encouraged to be more patient with yourself, especially when you’re learning something new (whether it be electronics or fiber/crochet/knit)!
Are you electronically challenged (like me), an electronic guru/genius (like my husband), or somewhere in between?
Happy crocheting,
Susan
I am very much like you, Susan. My husband rules the electronics in our house and I occasionally look at the tv. I’d rather knit and crochet than watch tv. Your story made me laugh out loud. By the way, I’ve checked out that dvd and really enjoyed watching her teach. Someday.. someday, I’m going to venture out and try it. The garments you have made are a big inspiration to me.
I’m glad you laughed at my story, Holly. I can look back at it and laugh, but I certainly wasn’t laughing that day!
I didn’t start crocheting garments for about the first 30 years that I’ve been crocheting! I’ve only been crocheting garments during the last 10 years or so. I prefer the top down garments because you can try them on at different times during the crochet process to make sure they’re fitting your body properly. Since I have “gauge issues”, this helps tremendously!
By the way, I know Doris Chan personally (from attending CGOA Conferences). I think her teaching and designing is fabulous!