You can find me in Ravelry as wearingpurple, in Twitter as wearingpurple1 and I have a public group in Facebook called Pursuit of Happy Knits
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Book Review, Designer Crochet and Crochet So Lovely
Today, I'm reviewing Designer Crochet: 52 Patterns to Elevate Your Style, Sizes Small to 5X by Shannon Mullett-Bowlsby with photography and illustrations by Jason Mullett-Bowlsby, together they are Shibaguyz Designs, and Crochet So Lovely, by Kristin Omdahl of Styled by Kristin.
You can find me in Ravelry as wearingpurple, in Twitter as wearingpurple1 and I have a public group in Facebook called Pursuit of Happy Knits
You can find me in Ravelry as wearingpurple, in Twitter as wearingpurple1 and I have a public group in Facebook called Pursuit of Happy Knits
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Book Review, Splendid Apparel by Anna Zilboorg
Thank you for accepting my invitation to view this new post.
Today, I have a brief Book Review of Splendid Apparel: A Handbook of Embroidered Knits, by Anna Zilboorg, published by XRX books as of May 1st, according to Amazon.
Here is a picture of myself with Anna Zilboorg and her daughter at Stitches West 2015 where we were all so excited about the book, we sold out of all the copies the first day.
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As a after thought note, I am seriously considering taking Marly Bird's pattern Simona (link from Ravelry pattern store) and applying Anna's techniques, so stay tuned!
You can find me in Ravelry as wearingpurple, in Twitter as wearingpurple1 and I have a public group in Facebook called Pursuit of Happy Knits
Friday, May 1, 2015
Podcast recently heard.
There are three types of entertainment on the internet for knitters: blogs like mine and podcasts of the audio kind and video.
A lot of blogs and podcasts are a way for an opinionated knitter to voice their opinions. Saying that, I'm not saying its a negative thing as we sometimes think opinions are, but a way of posting the things learned with anecdotal experience. NONE of this is, as with most of what's on the internet, is scientific proof. There are no absolute truths in blog posts or podcasts except that these are the things we have learned and the desire to share.
I listen to a LOT of podcasts while I'm working in the office. I often compare them to having a knitting radio station to listen to or a channel on tv to watch. I recently purchased an iPad and went through iTunes subscribing to every knitting/fiber podcast I can find, I think there are about 80 subscribed to right now. Here is a list of what I've been listening to lately. (Links are provided to those I can find, for the specific episode I heard and any memorable notes.)
Some of the podcasts that I'm following I think have these qualities that keep me coming back and probably will NEVER be dropped from my subscription list:
A lot of blogs and podcasts are a way for an opinionated knitter to voice their opinions. Saying that, I'm not saying its a negative thing as we sometimes think opinions are, but a way of posting the things learned with anecdotal experience. NONE of this is, as with most of what's on the internet, is scientific proof. There are no absolute truths in blog posts or podcasts except that these are the things we have learned and the desire to share.
I listen to a LOT of podcasts while I'm working in the office. I often compare them to having a knitting radio station to listen to or a channel on tv to watch. I recently purchased an iPad and went through iTunes subscribing to every knitting/fiber podcast I can find, I think there are about 80 subscribed to right now. Here is a list of what I've been listening to lately. (Links are provided to those I can find, for the specific episode I heard and any memorable notes.)
- Curious Handmade, have listened to couple of the last few episodes.
- Knit British, part 2: EYF (Ediburgh Yarn Fest)
- Woolful, #17. Very educational, I learn a LOT about fiber farming...
- Prairie Girls Knit and Spin, #65
- Yarniacs, #84
- Fat Squirrel Speaks, (video, have watched in the past) #142. LOVED Battlesheep!
- Knitting in Circles, #157, video. husband and wife. LOVED this, I will be back.
- Equal Opportunity Crafter, video
- Knit Theory, #36, video. She had a great segment of podcaster trivia that I loved.
- Fiber Trek, video
- Hudson Valley knits, video
- Southern Girls Knit, #21 video
- Yarngasm, #143, Video, from Voolenvine Yarns
- Fiberista Files, #170, video
- Sassypants Knitter, #130, video
- Knitworthy, video, another mother/daughter, absolutely LOVELY
- Knitting Go, #54, video
- We Are Yarn, #117, video
- Susan B Anderson, #13, video, this one included her vacation on white sand beaches, beautiful.
- A Playful Day, ep, 'Tag, You're It!', audio, included interview with Robin Houghton
- Yarns from the Plains, #94, from the UK, in Audio
- Doubleknit, #104, have heard in the past
- Twinset Designs, #55
- Commuter Knitter, #91
- Anatomy of Knitting, #64. video, an American in Ireland!
- Fluffy Fibers, #26, video from France (in English), she sounds like Kiera Knightly, a joy to hear.
- Knit Circus, LOVE LOVE LOVE! have heard the last two or three episodes.
- Knitting Pipeline, #203
- Craftlit. we're reading classic books here, currently Jane Austen's Sense & Sensibility.
- Dark Matter Knits, #28 video.
- Knotty Girls Knitcast, #45, audio, perfect mix of nerdy and knitting. (Did you hear when they interviewed me?)
- Knitting Rose Yarns, #182, Knitting Rose is an indie dyer of yarns also, usually husband and wife, audio.
- Knitmore Girls, mother/daughter podcast in audio.
- 2 Knit Lit Chicks, mother/daughter podcast in audio, with books!
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So, a few notes about listening/watching podcasts in general FOR ME!
From what I've been hearing, people have been saying they download the podcasts and listen while walking the dogs or jogging. It wasn't until just recently that I used a device (laptop or iPad) with hearing attachment, I've had earbuds from an old Kindle that I wasn't using, and a gamers headset from recording Fiber Hooligans (had a microphone). I picked them up recently because there is construction going on across the street, and have found that the constant pounding and beeping of the backing up construction vehicles are comfortably drowned out.
Which changes everything. Without earphones or earbuds, some of the podcasts are very hard to hear through the laptop speakers and impossible with the iPad. I tried to listen to a pair of ladies on a podcast not listed here, the one was not sitting up to the microphone even with my earphones on, I couldn't hear her and lost interest in their conversation, did not finish the one episode.
This list has changed a lot since the last one I've posted. Some of those podcasts are now defunct, some for good reasons like constant bullying or just a change in a path made in the lives the podcasters and they've decided to move on. My tastes are changing, too. You'll see in this list there are a LOT of video podcasts now where, for a while, I'd completely given them up, because I don't WATCH and there was consistent difficulty loading. I've noticed there are some I don't have to watch to get, so I'm picking them back up again. Some are such quality, I've no interest in and maybe I won't ever pick them back up. I know I'm getting that way about a lot of the current ones I hear. I find I am losing interest in the solo ones who focus on what they are doing only, don't share what they are finding or reading.
Some of the podcasts that I'm following I think have these qualities that keep me coming back and probably will NEVER be dropped from my subscription list:
- They've continued to pursue better sound quality, whether simply wearing a microphone on or near their mouth or sitting up to the one on the computer, perhaps investing in better equipment.
- Usually a duo, easier to follow a conversation. Some of these are over an hour long, maybe 90 minutes, pair (or more) of people speaking keeps my attention.
- Talk about other things beside what's in their hands (as I said earlier), interviews or has a guest on, shares books or what they've heard elsewhere. MANY podcasters share what they've heard on other podcasts, so the list is ever changing of who you find to listen too.
Friday, April 24, 2015
Socks: New kind of heel, and new kind of needles
A few months ago, Marly Bird had Deborah Norville on the Yarn Thing Podcast. THE Deborah Norville. Don't believe me, CLICK HERE to listen. That wasn't the first time, but to get on with my story.
So. Ms. Norville shared all about her Serenity Sock Yarn, made by Premier Yarns. It's a surprisingly higher quality sock yarn, of 50% merino, 25% bamboo and 25% nylon, found generally in the bigger box stores of the craft variety. I happen to find it at a little out of the way store about 2.5 hours from home that I can visit when on adventure to Portland... Knitkabob, in Union, Oregon, population 250 or so. When I found this yarn in the shop there, I selected two pairs of socks worth and brought them home.
I took one pairs worth with me to STITCHES East to look for sock needles, those size 0 and 1 that I'm having a hard time finding. I had a hard time finding them there, too, ended up with Kollage Squares. It took a while to get use to them, not so much because they are square (maybe at that size, my fingers don't register the unique shape much) but the points I would consider lethal.
I would not recommend these to someone with animals or small children that tend want to cuddle while you knit, DO NOT LEAVE THEM OUT, and I would think twice about using them while riding in the car. Now that I'm almost done with the pair, I poked myself really good when I set them down beside me in the dark. Otherwise, I appreciate the preciseness of the points when working with finer sock yarn, greatly reduced the number of dropped stitches or partially knit stitches that had to be fixed when they were found several rows later.
I started the socks on the plane ride home. It was darker than this on the plane, the light in my seat wasn't working during the first leg of the trip and when the guy across the aisle put out his light I had to put them away. On the second leg, I considered poking the kid in the seat in front of me, who whapped me in the face with the zipper of his hoodie about three times.
These are a vanilla sock pattern, memorized. I don't always start at the toe, but generally just carry them along whenever I need a little project in my pocket or purse. The skeins aligned themselves to match this closely. It took very little effort to make the stripes match. If that is Premier Yarns product standard, another point for them.
The thing I did differently on this pair was an afterthought heel. I have read about them in magazines and other blogs and heard about them on several podcasts. (In fact, today I listened to Susan B. Anderson, describe doing a different type of afterthought heel for the simple joy of having uninterrupted flow of the color changes, with the self-stripping variety of sock yarn.)
From what I understand the principles of an afterthought heel are: knit a tube sock, decide where the heel goes, either lifeline or pick up the stitches the row above and the row below the one row selected for the placement, snip one stitch in the middle and carefully pick out those stitches. I generally work a short-row heel, so that working the heel itself seemed very doable.
I really like this method, but I think the next time I do this heel the sock will be from top-down, as then the heel and the toe will exactly match.
A little kitchener stitching and the heel is done.
I have one picture left to post, of the finished pair, which are very nearly done, except for kitchenering the second heel, weaving all the ends and blocking.
I am posting this and working on another post to cover my sadness at not being at STITCHES South this weekend, taking place in Nashville, Tennessee. I have been following the pictures and comments as much as possible, I know I'm missing out.
Happy Knitting, everyone!
(Earlier posts about socks: from 2011)
So. Ms. Norville shared all about her Serenity Sock Yarn, made by Premier Yarns. It's a surprisingly higher quality sock yarn, of 50% merino, 25% bamboo and 25% nylon, found generally in the bigger box stores of the craft variety. I happen to find it at a little out of the way store about 2.5 hours from home that I can visit when on adventure to Portland... Knitkabob, in Union, Oregon, population 250 or so. When I found this yarn in the shop there, I selected two pairs of socks worth and brought them home.
I took one pairs worth with me to STITCHES East to look for sock needles, those size 0 and 1 that I'm having a hard time finding. I had a hard time finding them there, too, ended up with Kollage Squares. It took a while to get use to them, not so much because they are square (maybe at that size, my fingers don't register the unique shape much) but the points I would consider lethal.
I would not recommend these to someone with animals or small children that tend want to cuddle while you knit, DO NOT LEAVE THEM OUT, and I would think twice about using them while riding in the car. Now that I'm almost done with the pair, I poked myself really good when I set them down beside me in the dark. Otherwise, I appreciate the preciseness of the points when working with finer sock yarn, greatly reduced the number of dropped stitches or partially knit stitches that had to be fixed when they were found several rows later.
I started the socks on the plane ride home. It was darker than this on the plane, the light in my seat wasn't working during the first leg of the trip and when the guy across the aisle put out his light I had to put them away. On the second leg, I considered poking the kid in the seat in front of me, who whapped me in the face with the zipper of his hoodie about three times.
These are a vanilla sock pattern, memorized. I don't always start at the toe, but generally just carry them along whenever I need a little project in my pocket or purse. The skeins aligned themselves to match this closely. It took very little effort to make the stripes match. If that is Premier Yarns product standard, another point for them.
The thing I did differently on this pair was an afterthought heel. I have read about them in magazines and other blogs and heard about them on several podcasts. (In fact, today I listened to Susan B. Anderson, describe doing a different type of afterthought heel for the simple joy of having uninterrupted flow of the color changes, with the self-stripping variety of sock yarn.)
From what I understand the principles of an afterthought heel are: knit a tube sock, decide where the heel goes, either lifeline or pick up the stitches the row above and the row below the one row selected for the placement, snip one stitch in the middle and carefully pick out those stitches. I generally work a short-row heel, so that working the heel itself seemed very doable.
I really like this method, but I think the next time I do this heel the sock will be from top-down, as then the heel and the toe will exactly match.
A little kitchener stitching and the heel is done.
I am posting this and working on another post to cover my sadness at not being at STITCHES South this weekend, taking place in Nashville, Tennessee. I have been following the pictures and comments as much as possible, I know I'm missing out.
Happy Knitting, everyone!
(Earlier posts about socks: from 2011)
Monday, March 16, 2015
#STITCHESWest photo recap
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| Judy is my booth buddy. I probably spend the most time at the Stitches Events with her. She has always treated me kindly, never made me feel small and laughs at my silly jokes. She makes the days go by joyfully. Here she is wearing the Chelsea's Cowl, one of a set of four that were modeled in the Student Fashion Show by FOUR of the ladies I work with. |
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| Some how, the magic ladies of A Darn Good Yarn got a fun cut-out image of Benjamin Levisay. They had a contest for the most fun selfies posted with him. I miss the time I spent with Benjamin on the Fiber Hooligan podcast. I miss his laugh, most. |
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| Marly Bird and Stephen West. Marly is tall, I think Stephen must have been wearing stilts! |
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| Kismet Andrews of Bar-maids and Marly Bird, the first opportunity they had to meet in person was on the market floor. Bar-maids is a new sponsor of the Yarn Thing Podcast with Marly Bird. |
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| Wilhelmine Peers designed the piece on the cover of the most recent issue of Knitter's Magazine. |
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Pam Haschke posed with Sharks fans, in her Shark hat. Pam is president of Halos of Hope, little more about that later...
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| Lindsey Martin, of Erin Lane Bags, is also a brand-new sponsor of the Yarn Thing podcast. The two of them together have moves and a huge spirit of fun, you'll only see at the party, so don't miss out on the opportunity when you have it! |
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| There's always cool prizes to be one at the Pajama Party! |
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| Me and Marly. |
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| We were ALL singing 'YMCA', because THAT'S how we Pajama Party. |
COSTUME CONTEST!:
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| Star Trek! |
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| Thing 1 and Thing 2, read a knitting poem in the style of Dr. Suess to Judge Stephen West: Would you knit in a car? Would you knit in a bar? Why, yes, Sam I am. |
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| Stephen's fan, came with a fan. |
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| Stephen sang the Batman theme song, 'Nananananannanananana BATMAN!' |
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| The winner of the contest wore knitted pantaloons. |
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| Second runner up, wore Minnie Mouse ears and a Stephen West design shawl. |
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| Footwear contest, judged by Lorna Misner. She had her work cut out for her. |
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The market is OPEN!
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| Anne Berk and I had coffee before the festivities began one morning. She's way too perky or I haven't had enough coffee yet! |
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| Gwen Bortner author of Entree to Entrelac |
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| Betsy Hershberg, author of Besty's Beads was named Halos of Hope, Woman of the Year. |
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| Kyle Kunnecke (aka Kyle William) I think has become a knitsib (to borrow the term from Brenda Dayne), this was the first time we met. |
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| Patty proudly had to show her prizes to me! Marly Bird's pattern of Outlander inspiration and the Bijou Basin Ranch Yarn to go with! |
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| She knit the scarf from the recent Knitter's Magazine, which I think was an beautiful version! |
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| Deborah Jarchow teaches WEAVING! |
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| Ginger Luters is also an author, of Module Magic |
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| I think this is my favorite picture of the whole event. Anna Zilboorg is AMAZING, and as much as I overuse that word, there is no other to discribe her. I got to spend PRECIOUS time with her, she was in the booth for a book signing and (maybe because we'd sold out of her Splendid Apparel book two days before) no body showed up. So, I was blessed to VISIT with her and her daughter. She's a cheerful soul and seeing that smile make her giggle replay in my head. What a gift! |
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| Adam Hurst writes and plays beautiful music in the Portland airport (where I've met him now, twice) to soothe the savage traveler. He's using his gypsy cello today, notice the carved head where the typical scroll would be. http://www.worldcello.com/ |
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| I met Portlandia in the airport. In this form, she is part of a giant wood carved cuckoo clock that was commissioned by the visitors bureau to tour the Pacific Northwest. I wondered if Portlandia and Medusa would get along but she declined my fries on the grounds that they would ruin her Amazonian figure, It was not for me to argue with her. Besides, Generally, she's a difficult woman to chat with, as she has been cast in bronze and resides on a building where she's best seen in winter when the trees below her can't interfere in the chat. |
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| The skirt is part of my stash enhancements, from Darn Good Yarn who traveled to California from the EAST coast. There's lots more, but the other photos won't load. |
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Knotty Girls KnitCast
Just to keep you updated, I was invited by Laura & Jen of the Knotty Girls KnitCast to appear and be interviewed on their podcast.
They were very kind to invite me, it was a genuine thrill for me as I have been listening to their program ever since they began, as you will probably figure out from listening.
Here is the link, I do recommend their podcast as it's FUN, full of knitting and yarn, of course, but movies, tv shows and other geeky stuff. If, for some reason I can't begin to imagine, you're not interested in all the other and only in hearing me, (SERIOUSLY? Have you not had enough?) you could skip ahead to minute 30, and we talk about all kinds of stuff I love for about 30 minutes.
One thing that was mentioned, that I would point out to you, is a GROUP on Facebook, where I try to share all kinds of fun things, comics or cool things from different companies, called PURSUIT OF HAPPY KNITS. (Deliberately all caps, because the happier I am, the louder I get.) Please consider yourself invited to ask to be included.
They were very kind to invite me, it was a genuine thrill for me as I have been listening to their program ever since they began, as you will probably figure out from listening.
Here is the link, I do recommend their podcast as it's FUN, full of knitting and yarn, of course, but movies, tv shows and other geeky stuff. If, for some reason I can't begin to imagine, you're not interested in all the other and only in hearing me, (SERIOUSLY? Have you not had enough?) you could skip ahead to minute 30, and we talk about all kinds of stuff I love for about 30 minutes.
One thing that was mentioned, that I would point out to you, is a GROUP on Facebook, where I try to share all kinds of fun things, comics or cool things from different companies, called PURSUIT OF HAPPY KNITS. (Deliberately all caps, because the happier I am, the louder I get.) Please consider yourself invited to ask to be included.
Saturday, January 17, 2015
The Power of Knitting
Before I really begin, let me just say, Knitting is my craft of choice. What I'm trying to say here, I hope applies to all craft: Crochet, Spinning, Dye process, and beyond into woodworking, etc. It may not sound like it because I'm speaking of my own experience and with my own comfort levels.
I've been knitting a stinkingly-good long time. I picked it up when I was a teen-ager, being a bit rebellious of my mom who crocheted. Not that I blame her, she was a single mom of 5 kids, I'm not sure I could have left my knitting alone in such a tornado either, where the simple act of pulling out a needle to use in a decent sword-fight would be devastating. (Pulling out a crochet hook would only undo a few stitches at most.)
I had not been afraid at all of yarn. All through our childhood, Mom would find an unfinished projects or sweaters with 'problems' in the neighborhood thrift store, garbage bags of knotted messes, and bring them home to for us to untangle. Great for problem/puzzle solving. She had in her stash a pair of brilliant kelly green plastic knitting needles and a book on how to knit, and one spring break, after I'd binged until sick of her romances, I went my own way with those pretty needles, that book and a ball of yarn and taught myself to knit.
I think at that stage, my knitting was for productivity. There were always new babies being born around us, we sewed clothes, made blankets and afghans. The feeling of accomplishment to someone not adult yet, can be HUGE.
I continued to knit, sometimes crochet, without stopping into my adult years. It had changed for me though, it had become my one skill that could possibly keep my family warm, a stitch at a time, was precious. To protect and comfort my family was an unceasing chore, as was laundry, dishes, vacuuming. But it was the thing that ONLY I could do. My superpower, to change the world one stitch at a time. Even if it was only MY WORLD!
Later, it became necessary to perfect my skills. My gifts of craft went generally unappreciated because they were viewed as homemade. I could estimate that by this time, I had achieved talent according to the theory of 10,000 hours or very near it. So, I read everything I could get my hands on at the library or borrow from friends to make better seams, avoid seams, perfect cast-on and bind-offs. I had entered my product in the local county fairs, just to gain information. Still because of the area I was in there wasn't the availability for anything better, I was using acrylic. I had no idea that you could order things by mail, but probably couldn't have done that either, because I had wouldn't have known what I was doing. Or could have afforded it. I was still knitting for everyone else until just a few years ago. I found myself alone and finally began to knit for myself. (In some circles, this is disgustingly called 'Selfish Knitting' and really undeservedly so.)
Almost 40 years later, I find that my knitting fulfills other needs.
The Craft Yarn Council has shared articles on the Health Benefits of knitting, which range from physcial (keeping potential arthritis at bay) to psychological (being focused on something other than self, etc).
Heather Ordover, of one of my favorite podcasts, Craftlit, published a wonderful treatise on Cognitive Anchoring, which demonstrates how knitting improves your Mental Retention of potentially tedious information being heard. You really should try that one on your boss for the next meeting to come along! (I also think you should be free to knit during religious services. After all, another title for God is Creator, who else would understand that satisfying work of your hands and know best how to spiritually feed you?) I can attest to this working as I have always knit during television watching or at the movies, and retain infinite details that I will recall later, to which my husband will say, 'you are a plethora of useless knowledge...' in a loving way.
Then there is the Charity aspect. Nothing new, as socks and hats were knitted in a communal group during wartime as a way to support soldiers. It is beneficial to prison inmates. This article showed them working on hats for Shaken Baby Syndrome. Another recent news items shows a picture of purple hats that were crafted to bring attention to and assist in raising money for Shaken Baby Syndrome. (I admit, what got my attention was the sea of purple hats.)
Halos of Hope is an organization that collects and sends about 2,700 hats a month to cancer centers all over the US. I personally have knitted hats for Halos of Hope, dog blankets and sweaters for the local Humane Society, blankets for the Linus Blanket Project and Warm-Up America.
One of my favorite programs that I feel the little that I've done is not enough: Foster Care 2 Success is a program to support kids who've aged out of the foster care program and gone on to higher education. The Red Scarf Project sends the kids a package at Valentine's Day that includes among other things a hand-knitted red scarf. I have set aside some wool just for that, but have been too tied up with other things at the moment to get to it...
I don't know how my knitting story will end. I plan to knit till I can't, I will take my knitting with me everywhere. Literally walk around with it, except when walking the dogs. There's not a lot of purses or bags that work that way, that's my current desire. I do know that my knitting has acquired a communal note that is new and refreshing to me and fraught with drama. Technology has had some really wonderful benefits, as in finding materials, patterns, creative ideas which has had me wondering if I need an electronic tablet most of the day long. At the same time, tech has made a venue for those who don't have any other way to vent their frustrations to become quite nasty. Which seems to continue to perpetuate the ugly stereotype of 'knitting grumpy grannies'.
That may be the image of me after all this time but certainly NOT where I hope to end up. It is my goal to keep sharing what is sweet and good. To that end, I do have a Facebook Group called "Pursuit of Happy Knits" that I hope does this for me. Please consider yourself invited. If being happy is your thing, that is.
To close, here's a great video: Jimmy Kimmel has a conversation with a fellow knitting in his audience. I understand his name is Brad. Brad, if you're out there and see this, You Rock! You may be a soul cousin of mine.
I've been knitting a stinkingly-good long time. I picked it up when I was a teen-ager, being a bit rebellious of my mom who crocheted. Not that I blame her, she was a single mom of 5 kids, I'm not sure I could have left my knitting alone in such a tornado either, where the simple act of pulling out a needle to use in a decent sword-fight would be devastating. (Pulling out a crochet hook would only undo a few stitches at most.)
I had not been afraid at all of yarn. All through our childhood, Mom would find an unfinished projects or sweaters with 'problems' in the neighborhood thrift store, garbage bags of knotted messes, and bring them home to for us to untangle. Great for problem/puzzle solving. She had in her stash a pair of brilliant kelly green plastic knitting needles and a book on how to knit, and one spring break, after I'd binged until sick of her romances, I went my own way with those pretty needles, that book and a ball of yarn and taught myself to knit.
I think at that stage, my knitting was for productivity. There were always new babies being born around us, we sewed clothes, made blankets and afghans. The feeling of accomplishment to someone not adult yet, can be HUGE.
I continued to knit, sometimes crochet, without stopping into my adult years. It had changed for me though, it had become my one skill that could possibly keep my family warm, a stitch at a time, was precious. To protect and comfort my family was an unceasing chore, as was laundry, dishes, vacuuming. But it was the thing that ONLY I could do. My superpower, to change the world one stitch at a time. Even if it was only MY WORLD!
Later, it became necessary to perfect my skills. My gifts of craft went generally unappreciated because they were viewed as homemade. I could estimate that by this time, I had achieved talent according to the theory of 10,000 hours or very near it. So, I read everything I could get my hands on at the library or borrow from friends to make better seams, avoid seams, perfect cast-on and bind-offs. I had entered my product in the local county fairs, just to gain information. Still because of the area I was in there wasn't the availability for anything better, I was using acrylic. I had no idea that you could order things by mail, but probably couldn't have done that either, because I had wouldn't have known what I was doing. Or could have afforded it. I was still knitting for everyone else until just a few years ago. I found myself alone and finally began to knit for myself. (In some circles, this is disgustingly called 'Selfish Knitting' and really undeservedly so.)
Almost 40 years later, I find that my knitting fulfills other needs.
The Craft Yarn Council has shared articles on the Health Benefits of knitting, which range from physcial (keeping potential arthritis at bay) to psychological (being focused on something other than self, etc).
Heather Ordover, of one of my favorite podcasts, Craftlit, published a wonderful treatise on Cognitive Anchoring, which demonstrates how knitting improves your Mental Retention of potentially tedious information being heard. You really should try that one on your boss for the next meeting to come along! (I also think you should be free to knit during religious services. After all, another title for God is Creator, who else would understand that satisfying work of your hands and know best how to spiritually feed you?) I can attest to this working as I have always knit during television watching or at the movies, and retain infinite details that I will recall later, to which my husband will say, 'you are a plethora of useless knowledge...' in a loving way.
Then there is the Charity aspect. Nothing new, as socks and hats were knitted in a communal group during wartime as a way to support soldiers. It is beneficial to prison inmates. This article showed them working on hats for Shaken Baby Syndrome. Another recent news items shows a picture of purple hats that were crafted to bring attention to and assist in raising money for Shaken Baby Syndrome. (I admit, what got my attention was the sea of purple hats.)
Halos of Hope is an organization that collects and sends about 2,700 hats a month to cancer centers all over the US. I personally have knitted hats for Halos of Hope, dog blankets and sweaters for the local Humane Society, blankets for the Linus Blanket Project and Warm-Up America.
One of my favorite programs that I feel the little that I've done is not enough: Foster Care 2 Success is a program to support kids who've aged out of the foster care program and gone on to higher education. The Red Scarf Project sends the kids a package at Valentine's Day that includes among other things a hand-knitted red scarf. I have set aside some wool just for that, but have been too tied up with other things at the moment to get to it...
I don't know how my knitting story will end. I plan to knit till I can't, I will take my knitting with me everywhere. Literally walk around with it, except when walking the dogs. There's not a lot of purses or bags that work that way, that's my current desire. I do know that my knitting has acquired a communal note that is new and refreshing to me and fraught with drama. Technology has had some really wonderful benefits, as in finding materials, patterns, creative ideas which has had me wondering if I need an electronic tablet most of the day long. At the same time, tech has made a venue for those who don't have any other way to vent their frustrations to become quite nasty. Which seems to continue to perpetuate the ugly stereotype of 'knitting grumpy grannies'.
That may be the image of me after all this time but certainly NOT where I hope to end up. It is my goal to keep sharing what is sweet and good. To that end, I do have a Facebook Group called "Pursuit of Happy Knits" that I hope does this for me. Please consider yourself invited. If being happy is your thing, that is.
To close, here's a great video: Jimmy Kimmel has a conversation with a fellow knitting in his audience. I understand his name is Brad. Brad, if you're out there and see this, You Rock! You may be a soul cousin of mine.
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