caltrops

My darling husband calls this the caltrop stage of knitting:

When starting at the top of a hat or the center of a circle or the toe of a sock (as I am above), the first few rounds are difficult to manage. With too little fabric and too few stitches, the needles don't wait patiently until the knitter gets around to their stitches. They twist and turn and poke the hands in unexpected places.

Fortunately, knitting quickly advances from the caltrop jumble to something more like this:

(this would be the beginning of a rainbow striped sock for those of you who are wondering)

I'm in the caltrop stage of a research project, and it feels like I've been here forever. 

Actually, it feels like each time I've reached the point where everything should be stable and I should be able to start making swift progress, things twist and poke me in unexpected places again. 

The way that we talk about the writing process makes it seem linear: prompt, brainstorm, outline, research, draft, revision, editing, final copy. 

In reality, writing, especially large research projects of the sort I am consumed by these days, is iterative: prompt, brainstorm, outline, research, outline, draft, revision, research, draft, research, outline, draft, revision editing, new draft. lather, rinse, repeat.

If there's one thing knitting has taught me, it's that getting through the caltrop stage requires patience and perseverance. Each new stitch adds more stability to the fabric and helps to create order from the jumble in my hands. I need to take that lesson to my writing. 

Knitting is so much easier. 

I should go write something.

I'll just do one more round on this sock....