You can AMAZE, AMAZE, AMAZE yourself with your knitting skills.

 It is a very rare occurrence for me to go to the movies. As many of you know, I am not much of a TV or movie person. That, combined with inflation, going to the movies has become rather pricey. And we all know that I would rather spend my money on yarn, needles, patterns and all things knitting related. However, when my husband asked me to go see the new movie Project Hail Mary, I jumped at the opportunity.

Project Hail Mary is a book written by Andy Weir that was made into a motion picture starting Ryan Gosling. The story is about a man named Ryland Grace who is tasked with figuring out why a new life form is destroying the Sun. He is thrust into deep space to find the answers. This book has been on my TBR (which stands for "to be read" list) for....well....forever. And by forever, I mean since people on BookTok told me how fabulous the book was. So naturally, I needed to read it. I just hadn't gotten to it yet.

In the movie, Ryan Gosling's character wears this fabulous chunky knit curling sweater with wolves on it. It has been ALL OVER social media in the past few weeks. Although the sweater has absolutely nothing to do with the story, it has been a highlight of the film. I included a picture and link to the kit in the event you would like to make me one....I mean make one.

Now, in the movie, Grace wasn't supposed to go to space....Don't worry, I am not going to include any spoilers....But because of extenuating circumstances, he was asked to go. Now, this mission is a one way trip because the ship will not have enough fuel to get back to earth. So, when asked to go, Grace stated he needed to think about it. When he went to the Mission leader to let her know of his answer, he says,

"I'm sorry. I just don't have it in me. I can't do it."

Now, I know what you are thinking. Yep. This time I actually do. you are thinking "Maria, what the heck does this story have to do with knitting?" I'm getting there. I promise. I mean, I did mention the sweater, didn't I?

I don't want to give away the rest of the movie (which was absolutely spectacular. Go see it! I ended up seeing in theaters twice!). However, Grace states on different occasions that he "doesn't have it in him" or that he "isn't brave" or that "he has no idea what he is doing." He is often putting himself down in terms of his abilities. This hit me. It really resonated with me on different levels.

I cannot tell you how many times a student has said to me, "I can't do this" or "I don't know how you do that" or "that's too hard." I especially hear this when I say things like "oh that was easy." Many students see colorwork, cables, lace, etc as challenging without evening trying it. I hear that some techniques are outside of the wheelhouse. I can respect that, however, I know that YOU can do it. You can take on that hard project and tackle it. You just need to know that you CAN.

Knitting is NOT the same as saving the Sun from a star eating micro organism. If you mess up, you know what happens?

NO ONE DIES. That is what happens.

Knitting is one of those things that can be achieved by so many different methods. There is not one way to do something. That is why there are 92,3871 ways to decrease your knitting or why some people are English knitters versus continental knitters. In knitting you can take risks, try hard techniques, and if it doesn't work out the way you want, pull it out and start again. Nothing bad happens except perhaps some knots form in the yarn.

Be Brave. Have Confidence in yourself. Know that as long as you can pull a loop through another loop, you can achieve anything you put your mind to when you are knitting. There is nothing that you cannot do with a pair of pointy sticks and some pretty string.

 You got this! And for those who have read the book or seen the movie, I say this

You are going to AMAZE, AMAZE, AMAZE. So Fist my Bump.

Wolf Curling Sweater