I got on the wrong streetcar

Lately, I've been getting back into the rhythm of big city life. It's amazing!

However, big cities mean more vehicles, more people, and more public transport options. The latter is a definite plus. Thousands of people pass through the corridors of public transport (metro, streetcar, bus) every day. This translates into just as many (or almost as many) fewer vehicles on the road. Far be it from me to launch into a discussion about the environment—rather, I would like to draw a parallel with our stitches. You will see.

Like anything new, using public transport in the city of Toronto (Ontario, Canada) is a learning process. And learning means finding your bearings.

Have you taken the new REM in Montreal? Not the rock band, but the Réseau express métropolitain. Perhaps a bus in a city in a new country? How were your references? Every where. Or rather, how did you establish your references?

Three weeks since my arrival in this metropolis, the public transport route map is imprinted in my mind. Our references are partly our acquired, known comfort zone, our acquired learning. It's done—our brain is in the ‘I-know-so-no-stress’ state. It is in this state of mind that I board the streetcar that has just arrived at Union station [in the city centre]. With complete confidence, I follow the flow of people in the queue.

My new ritual is to take either a knitting project or a book out of my bag [I'm behind schedule]. This time, it's a new book I bought earlier in the day (see photo). I settle down near a window, in the back seat at the end of the streetcar. I dive into the next part of my book on the joy of science. Knitting, maths and science are all connected!

Several stops separate me from my next destination, where I will change streetcar line and head ‘home’. But as I am enjoying reading the words before my eyes, I don't notice that I have passed my stop. Two stops later, I realise that my bearings are off and my eyes are searching. I quickly realise that my stop is behind me and that getting off is the solution. Which is what I do!

This experience reminded me of my knitting... being so focused

that making a mistake can be the path taken.

Sometimes you are so focused on your knitting that you lose your concentration? Instruction line #2 becomes #8 on your needles! It may seem paradoxical, but being too focused can also be a state of conviction. Like my journey on tram number five-hundred something. I was so focused that I was convinced I was on the right tram, the other five-hundred-something.

Just like when we knit, looking up and focusing our gaze elsewhere, rereading our instructions, refocuses our attention, and that's when our conviction takes a hit. Is this a disaster?

On the contrary, our conviction has just given us a gift. The stitches that appear on our needles are sometimes different from what we see... Let me explain. Take the time to read your stitches, to understand them. Breaking your concentration means planting yourself back in the present, the tangible, what our eyes see on our needles. This moment of realignment allows us to refocus our conviction on another subject, another aspect, and simply pick up the thread of our knitting adventure. It means stepping out of the knitting phase and simply following the instructions as they are. We all do it at one time or another.

However, sometimes stepping out of our convictions allows us to give free rein to new learning. Like my brain that has now acquired a new tram route!