Sunday 18 March 2012

WIP



Hedgerow socks in progress

Don’t worry: being human is designed to be a work in progress~Dan McCarthy


I've always felt slighly bemused when people say they're going somewhere meaningful (to them) to 'find themselves'.  Where do they get the idea that the self is something complete and finished?  Do they believe that there is a lost self  'out there' somewhere, waiting to be 'found'?

The Knitter understands the 'work in progress' (WIP). It's the 'becoming' of a finished work, stitch by stitch, row by row, sometimes going back and picking up stitches left behind to complete a section (such as a sleeve or a button band) that form part of the whole.

Like Charles Fernyhough, I believe that  self can feel such a sin­gu­lar fix­ture, hug­ging one’s here-and-now like a twenty-four-hour under­gar­ment, but actu­ally it’s a string, loop­ing back and for­wards in time to knit together our past and future moments.