Defeated by a chicken

It's OK to stop sometimes

I admit it - I have been hands-down beaten by a chicken. By the pattern for a knitted Emotional Support Chicken to be precise.

I have seen pictures of these adorable chunky garter stitch chooks all over the internet this summer and I was determined to knit one of my very own. No matter that I didn’t have the right weight of yarn. I found some suitably chicken-ish rustic 4ply wool and dived on in.

But after three attempts and much swearing I have admitted (temporary) defeat and the chicken and I have temporarily parted ways. The problem is not the pattern I hasten to add, it’s purely my ability to count and the fact that the pattern requires you to work two sides symmetrically.

It’s fair to say some concentration is needed if you are to avoid a seriously wonky chicken - and I’m at the stage of life where my knitting time doesn’t always coincide with the time of day that I’m at my most astute. Nodding on the sofa at 8pm is generally only conducive to the simplest of patterns - not ones that require you to painstakingly keep count of all of your wrap and turns.

For some reason I was tempted by the pattern, thinking that the emotional support promised came from the actual knitting of the chicken, whereas now I am realising that it is much more likely to come from the person who actually cared enough about you to knit you the chicken in the first place.

Maybe I should aim for something simpler like an emotional support snake - think long stripy draught excluder - no counting or shaping required there for our skinny, snakey friend.

I shared my chicken related woes in my Facebook group and I was struck by the variety of responses. Along with the sympathy, “Don’t give up” was a common refrain, as well as “stick at it” or less helpfully - “I’ve done loads!”

“But what if I want to give up” I wailed back, stamping my foot in a bit of a tantrum.

Knitting shouldn’t feel like a chore, and if I’m not knitting for enjoyment then why the heck am I knitting it at all.

It’s one thing when it’s for my job and I’m on a deadline to get a shawl knitted and photographed. It’s quite another to be forcing myself to knit a chicken on the grounds that it’s somehow going to make me feel better - and yes - I’m fully aware of how daft that last sentence sounds 🤣

Knitting is a hobby, it’s supposed to be fun. Not a joyless slog through a pattern you aren’t enjoying.

So, it’s the time out corner for my ill-fated chicken pal. Shoving the thing into a basket (out of sight, out of mind) gave me far more satisfaction and emotional support than knitting the blasted thing did.

As ever there are parallels between knitting and everyday life. We had a saying when I was growing up, to the effect that you should ‘stop banging your head against a brick wall’. Stop doing things that are a waste of time or effort, basically.

Yes, there are certainly times when you need to dig deep. When you need to call on your inner reserves, grit your teeth (mix your metaphors) and just get the thing done.

But knitting a chicken doesn’t count 🤣

Make me feel better - jump into the comments to tell me of your knitting woes.

This is No. 9 in the 24 Essays Club series hosted by

Claire Venus

Other highlights include:

Never Knit with Green Yarn

Swedish Death Cleaning

What I learned from my new shoes