What makes a great knitter?

I used to attend a craft group at a local church. One day I was taking a break from knitting and sitting with the cross stitchers. This particular table had a self elected “leader” who made sure we all knew her opinions about this craft. Her big “thing” was the state of the back of our projects. In her opinion, the back must look as neat as the front. Well....if I could have super glued my project to my lap I would have! In hindsight, my work wasn't overly untidy as I did make sure to snip threads and to sew ends in instead of knotting, but the way she was going on made me feel like I just wasn't good enough. Needless to say, the next week I scurried back to the safety of the knitting group!

When I look at sites like Ravelry I am amazed at the awesome talent in the knitting and crochet world. As I gaze longingly at the lacy shawls, complex arans and beautifully crafted socks, to name but a few, I sometimes get a sinking feeling in my stomach that says “you could never do that”.

Why on earth not? What makes one knitter better or more competent than the next? Obviously there are a myriad of reasons, but I would like to demystify some of the hype about what makes a great knitter.

Firstly, do you love knitting, no matter what skill level you are currently at? If your answer is yes, then in my opinion you are a great knitter! By the way, feel free to substitute crocheter whenever you like. I love both crafts and struggle with some of the concepts in both areas so you are not alone.

Secondly, do you feel bad if you only use cheaper yarns/straight needles/patterns published by large yarn companies? Don’t fall for this one! As long as you enjoy what you do and are proud of your creations, you can use whatever yarns and tools you like! Yes, I will admit there is a lot of support for boutique designs and hand spun/hand painted yarns these days. This can only be a good thing, as it keeps the knitting world evolving and interesting, but that surely doesn’t exclude the knitter who loves making granny square rugs out of acrylics, or sticks to what she or he knows works.
I've added some picks here of 3 pairs of socks that I wear a lot and that all have built in "issues".  The first pair, apart from being a bit big, have been hiding a dropped stitch which I only noticed today!

Heirloom Jigsaw socks that were a bit big but still fit nicely inside my winter boots

Wendy Happy socks that could have been a bit tighter

Naturally Waikiwi socks that strangely turned out different lengths!

Lastly, are you willing to keep trying until you fix the mistake/learn the new stitch or technique? Then you are a great knitter. Don’t think for one moment that prize winning garments were created without mistakes being made along the way. You can be sure where there are knitted rows there will be some hair pulling and swearing. Just because you don’t admit to it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen!