Knitting and Re-knitting

I knit something new each winter. Last year, I started with scarves. I practiced the basic stuff - casting on, different stitches, and decreasing. This year, hats! I learned how to 'knit in the round' and how to handle two colors...very exciting.

I am realizing that I don't knit, so much as I, re-knit. I don't stick to a pattern. The type of yarn or size of needles that I have on hand are different than what the pattern calls for, but I try anyways. I find my own way, leading me to pull out and re-knit each project at least five times. I get half way through, see that it is too wide, too tight, too messy, and choose to unravel the stitches and start again, and again, and again. 

I am surprised, not so much by all the mistakes, but my patience with the process. I expect to make mistakes. I expect to unravel my work. I love that I will eventually reach a final creation, but I enjoy the process so much I don't mind doing it all over again. It will take as long as it takes.

I wonder how appreciating the process would change my experience in other areas of life. Particularly knitting and re-knitting relationships. People are a little different than yarn, but what would it feel like to enjoy the process, learn little by little, expect mistakes, keep going, and eventually create something beautiful in our own time?