Allegories and metaphors

Yesterday I went to the crochet clinic. The garment I am crocheting posed problems which seemed intractable. I spent many hours, weeks ago, trying to make sense of the instructions, and failed utterly. Counting stitches, and double checking the pattern failed to reveal a solution. The frustration, the failure, the seemingly wasted effort, all haunted me. So much time and effort, so much searching for understanding. And all for nothing, it seemed. I could not understand, could not work it out, and all my effort was useless.

I put away that part of the garment and worked on other pieces. Finally, yesterday, I sought the help of the crochet expert.

It was not my mistake. Put simply, the pattern was wrong. The required result was given, but the means of achieving it was wrong. Really wrong. If I had done what the pattern said, I would have produced something totally unsatisfactory. There has had to be much unravelling and re-working.

It is a very old pattern, and in all probability, if I contacted the company, they would shrug their metaphorical shoulders and tell me that the pattern was written so long ago that there is nothing they could do about it.

I might contact them, just to see what they say.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try, and try again.

I have finished one piece, and am now working on the second. Once that has been completed, it will be time to put it all together, and only then will I discover whether what I have produced is what I need and want.

I won't know until it is done, and tested.

Is there a better way?