The Essential Nature of Curiosity

Photo Credit: Thomas Weidenhaupt via Compfight cc

I’ll just say it. If you want to be a better knitter, you must  be curious. And yes, that’s an order. 

Okay, okay.  I just can’t be that hard-nosed. It’s really more of an invitation, but it’s one you really should accept. Curiosity is your golden ticket to greater confidence, creativity and skill. You need never feel defeated by a project. I mean it. Every good thing in my knitting life has come to me because of my curious nature. I love finding out why and how; to me, curiosity is essential. Here are some benefits to cultivating a little curiosity in your perspective (What about that corner in the photo-advancing or receding?):

Curiosity encourages questioning.

Why is something this way? Can it be done another way? Why not? How is it done? Is the how necessary to the why or can one or the other be switched up?

Curiosity can turn problems into opportunities.

I know that sounds like a bad break-room motivational poster, but some things become cliches because they are actually true. For the curious mind, fixing mistakes leads to a deep understanding of the fabric’s construction. Problems with a pattern lead to analysis of the intended outcome, finding the shortest path from point A to point B and then being willing to help others by (kindly) sharing your findings with the designer and the knitting community. 

Curiosity will motivate practice.

Practice includes swatching, sampling, making notes and generally acting like an artist instead of a knitting machine programmed by the designer. Practice means that you give yourself room for failure, do-overs, and evolution.

Curiosity will lead to richer experiences.

Life is just more fun when you’re looking in, over and around that corner as much as possible. You’ll find inspiration, ideas, examples, mentors and solutions in places you might not be expecting.

In a future post, I’ll share some ideas about how to cultivate curiosity, because I believe it’s like a muscle and you can make it stronger in yourself. In the meantime, what does curiosity mean to you? Do you agree that curiosity is essential?