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Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Rogue and the Coffee Bean Man

My cousin sent me a link to the The Man in the Coffee Bean Brain Test and I tried it out on several co-workers after personally taking way over 3 minutes to find the man. Only one other person took a while and everyone else was under 3 seconds, and one just spotted him immediately. I am trying to fixate on the fact that the test is unproven rather then that my right brain is broken. But sometimes I wonder.
Case in point. Take Rogue hoodie. I have grafted the top of the hood and after the first try I realized I twisted the last row incorrectly. I decided to redo it. And, there it is! One unruly stitch. The overactive left brain has created guilt! The right brain is saying "whateveh, whateveh", "there is beauty in im-perfections", and "if you frog that one more time, your yarn will fall apart" but the left brain is telling ,me "it just doesn't line up neatly and so everything is ruined!" "Everyone will notice!". "How can you even think to give that as gift when it ain't perfect!!!"

Whew, no wonder I get tired sometimes...all this drama going on. I'm trying to change, honest I am. I like to take a lesson from nature. If I examine these flowers carefully they are not "perfect". There are spots on the leaves and the buds are not uniform. But they are beautiful nonetheless, and unique, like every creation.


And there it is, one of those irrational ideas I have about myself and perfection I just have to let go! Now that I see the coffee bean man, I will never be able to not see him:)

10 comments:

beadlizard said...

Two seconds. Leave the mistake stitch be. I love your analogy about the beautiful flowers being imperfect, too. --Syl

Jen said...

Okay... here's what I think. On one hand, the stitch will probably eat away at your insides until you can't stand it anymore and thus you should probably rip. It's only a row, anyway.

On the other, even with my perfectionist knitting eye, I can't even tell what you're talking about, so the recipient will probably not notice either and love the sweater like the nature made imperfect flowers. If you wanted something perfect and devoid of character, you would have bought it.

Sigh... I wonder if you suffer from years of your mother telling you nothing is good enough even if it is perfect despite the clear impressiveness of what you are doing. I'm told this is very common among Chinese mothers, but I suspect other mothers do it as well. It worked on me, but don't succumb to it!

Terby said...

Oh, I understand. Leave it, though. It's a mark of a human hand. It's not visible in the photo. The sweater will be loved by the recipient. Really. (I'd love a gift like that!)

kbrow said...

They say unless you can see it from the back of a galloping horse, don't bother ripping it out. Now I'm off to take that coffee bean test. I wonder if I should have a cup of coffee before I try it? My brain is definitely kind of foggy on the best of days.

somebunnysloveDOTcom said...

Well, I must be normal because I did it just over 3 seconds -- more like 5. Funny part of it all is that I use my right eye in these kind of puzzles/tests. However, as for the sweater, I did not see the mistake in Rogue either. I would leave the beautiful garment alone because unlike the heel of a sock, the missed stitch seems more cosmetic than for comfort.
=:8

Anonymous said...

Oy, that test is wicked. It took me, like, 5 seconds to find that guy, but I guess that was mere luck ;)
Gosh, we knitters certainly are the biggest perfectionists around - it's amazing how such a little, absolutely invisible mistake like yours can get us to fret so much! Really, if you wouldn't have pointed out the mistake, I wouldn't have seen it - and whoever will get Rogue won't see it either. But it's enough that we knitters see and know it, right? But, I have to agree 100% with jen: If you wanted something perfect, you would have bought it. This is the nature of handmade items, there's sometimes a loose stitch among the neatly done ones, and sometimes even a small mistake - but, it's made with your own hands and with a lot of love, and that's what counts!

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Anonymous said...

Oh I found the man but I have no idea how long it took. OH well.
I would leave the stitch. I left a bad stitch in a sock and never noticed it again. No one is perfect and I've learned to live with it. Keep it and go on. :)

LisaB said...

Beautiful flowers!

And I took that test - found him, but it sure wasn't 3 seconds. Longer than that. :)

Opal said...

I think I'd leave the stitch as it is. If it's going to leave your house, you won't have to live with it the way it is. Out of sight. out of mind.