Sucking it up.

Sometimes I think that the only difference between fine work and rough work is the willingness of the maker to go back and correct mistakes.

I spent several hours fixing a slight problem in the second sleeve. It wasn't a big mistake; I had skipped a row when I was picking up so there was a little bit of pull or curve on the outer fabric of the sleeve. I easily could have left it and hoped that I could flatten it out in the blocking.

But instead, I sucked it up and unpicked back to a point safely before the mistake. I then started the pocket knitting again, picking up much more carefully than I had been.

My opening statement is of course an oversimplification. There is such a thing as skill. There is practice and learning and style and technique. But at any level of actual skill, there is a range of workmanship. That range, I think, comes from what I would call "care", because it depends on how willing the worker is to suck it up and fix errors.