Well, here's my contribution to the weekly knitblog theme, except instead of saying what I wished I knew "back when" I am going to list Things That I Have Learned from Knitting:

1. Knitting circularly is really, really fun for me. It is satisfying to knit a tube for a tube-shaped body part (mittens for hands, socks for feet. What? you say they aren't tubular? You mean you have never considered a spherical cow? {sorry, ecologist joke})

2. I can learn just about any skill I need if the finished product using it is desirable enough to me.

3. But, there are some skills I enjoy more than others. (see: cables vs. colorwork)

4. I have an excellent color sense (probably trained by knitting and quilting). I love color and have been known to buy a yarn simply because of its color. I am also one of those only 20% (according to Sally Melville) who can look at a sweater knit up in red, and think "wow, that would look good on me if it were done in a burnished gold." I'm not married to the color something is shown in.

5. Any day I can wear something I've knit is a good day.

6. It is possible to divide my concentration between two tasks, as long as one is simple and both don't involve words. (I can read and knit but I cannot read and watch television at the same time. Nor can I read and listen to music with words, but I can read, knit, and listen to quiet instrumental music if I'm not too tired).

7. Actually, "boring" reading goes down better if I have some simple knitting in my hands. I actually remember things much better when I knit and read. This is the key for my making it through journal articles and scholarly books, which, unfortunately, tend to be tedious at times.

8. Knitting calms me down almost instantly. It's like meditation. I've noticed when I'm really upset, if I pick up some simple knitting and start, I begin to calm down. I think that's because a lot of the "upset" I suffer originates in the "worry centers" of my brain (there is no situation so bad that I cannot imagine it worse...), and somehow, knitting occupies nearby centers or something like that (don't look at me, I'm not really a neurobiologist).

9. It is easy to wait when you have knitting. I do not wait well. I do not like situations where I feel my time is being treated as less valuable than someone else's time. I do not do idleness well. (I have a lot of nervous energy). But if I have knitting, it's not wasted time, it's time to knit.

10. Despite all the trumpeting about it being "hip, young, and new" to knit, Joe and Jane Average-American-Non-Knitter still associate it mostly with little old ladies and pregnant women. I've gotten some odd comments over the years when I knit in public.

11. Something I am learning - more and more, how to substitute yarn in patterns fearlessly. I am looking ahead to knitting a pattern written for "Weekend Cotton" in a polar weight wool. Will it work? I don't know. I will swatch. If it doesn't work, ok, I'll find another pattern.

12. Life and work are big and scary and the mistakes you make can well be permanent; knitting is familiar and personal and you can rip out your mistakes easily and fix them.

13. It doesn't HAVE to be perfect to be good and useful.