Easy? Difficult?

Why is it that some crafty techniques are easy and some difficult? Why are some easy for one and difficult for another? Who owns the scale that says what is easy and what is not?When I was on holiday I finally got around to cabling without a cable needle. I've often read of people learning to do this but never quite had the impetus to take what felt like it would be a plunge myself. I thought it was an advanced technique and one that I wasn't sure I would ever bother with. I'm not the world's speediest knitter and have never really minded the extra time involved in using a cable needle.

While travelling my main project was the Over the Knee Stockings from Handknit Holidays which has one fiddly cable every ten rows as part of the gorgeous seam that runs up the back of the leg. Part of my getting my knitting on the plane strategy is to avoid taking metal needles in the hand luggage and I thought I could just use a spare DPN as my cable needle, which I did for a while, but it was cumbersome because it was so long and the stitches are so few and I started to think about the fabled cabling without a cable needle. I decided I'd make the effort and look the technique up online and give it a go, following a video tutorial has helped me often in the past and is the best substitute I can think of for having a real live person teach you how to do something. Then it occurred to me that actually all it takes is slipping the stitches off the needle and rearranging the order you knit them in, shuffle shuffle and away I went cabling without a cable needle. Not at all difficult although I had built it up to be so.

This reinforced for me that often it's just mind over matter and that sometimes I label things as difficult for no greater reason than that they are different or new. So when I sat down with Alicia's lovely ornament kit, I felt sure I'd whip straight on with some blanket stitch before I had a chance to think it could be hard. Goodness I think I even knew how to do this when I was at school.

Ha ha - easy? No! Difficult? Yes! I still don't know why but it took many attempts (with knitting rest breaks to restore calm) to get my head round this which is no doubt a basic stitch in the great stitch grading. Still one easy, one difficult, whichever way they come to me , that's two more skills for the emporium!

This is not easy or difficult (except to resist casting on another pair of socks!) This is loveliness in the sunshine. It's my prize from Bells' recent give away. Thank you so much again Bells - I like to think it brought a little bit of the Australian summer with it!Finally, Happy Thanksgiving to anyone celebrating and to anyone who's not but still is very thankful for all they've got. A big thanks from me for everyone who commented on my blogiversary post - cheers my dears - prize drawing this weekend so last chance for anyone who hasn't got their name in the hat.