Knitting is a simple concept. Use two needles to tie string together with knots to create almost anything someone can think of. Simple enough.
But what happens when one knot comes loose and the whole piece starts to unravel?
It could be nothing to worry about, or it could destroy the entirety of the piece, forcing you to start over. As life progresses, there are moments that pop up that are like out-of-place knots. Things change, people move away, and you keep going forward. Patching up and removing the knot from the piece, you have to work at it to get it out, but once it’s finished, a weight is lifted, and a little bit of stress has gone away.
While the knot is no longer an issue, there are still little remnants of it left, that if looked at carefully, one would be able to spot. Whether that be a crease or fold, signifying there once had been a mistake. A small imperfection seen across the array of matching knots. Moments and memories can fade, but their impact can still be felt.
When knitting, the quintessential item needed is undoubtedly an abundance of yarn.
However, once started, it becomes quite easy to run out.
A skein of yarn can range anywhere from 50 to 1000 yards, with the average being around 365 yards. Each yard can be equivalent to one day in the year, once you run out of yarn, it’s the same as the year ending.
Starting a new project with a fresh skein of yarn is filled with promise and the feeling that the yarn is never going to run out and that there is definitely enough to finish the task. When in reality, there is nowhere near enough. You’re working diligently on a project, and before you know it, your yarn is almost all gone. You were certain you had enough, but you didn’t.
The same goes with time, there seems to be time to spare, time to be spent worrying about fruitless things or on people who aren’t worth fretting about, spending time wishing away the days. It feels that time is never going to run out, that there is enough time before something happens, like graduating high school. The gap between freshman and senior year is four years—around 1,300 days. But those days go by in a flash, the ball of yarn uncoiling with less and less left as the project progresses.
Being a freshman, you think you have so much time in high school and that it will be forever until you graduate. In reality, the four years fly by extremely fast. If someone drops a ball of yarn, it’ll hit the ground, start rolling and come apart. A skein unravels quickly and so does time.
As you approach senior year, you realize that the time to graduate will come a lot sooner than anticipated. The current seniors are graduating and you will have to say goodbye to good friends and people you have grown up with at school. You’re not ready to let them go yet. The people that have woven themselves into your life over time will now be far away and you will rarely see them. Your project is becoming knotted with more and more little knots showing up that you have to untangle.
Your knitted piece was perfect the way it was, now, it’s all coming undone. The skein of yarn you were using and depending on is almost out. Things are changing and you can’t do anything about it. Time is moving too fast, your ball of yarn is rolling away and you can’t catch up with it.
Soon enough, you’ll be a senior and only have one year left in high school. One ball of yarn left to unravel before your life changes and the entire knitted piece you’ve known and worked so hard to create is going to go in a completely new direction. Encountering new knots, strings, and coils along the way.
Hoping that your piece doesn’t change too much, you crave the feeling that you can look back and remember what you had created.
