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A Whole New World
Posted on | July 29, 2006 | 3 Comments
I’ve read a lot of posts about what knitting means to people, most recently this. I felt I had more to say than what is allowable in comments, so I’ll say it here. Because that’s what a blog is, right? Free expression. Knitting and blogging are, truly, worlds unto themselves. Knitspeak could be its own language (frogging, gauge, swatch, plies, FOs, UFOs, WIPs, pooling, stash, LYS, enablers) and blogging changes the way you view the world around you (is that blog-worthy? in what light should I photograph this skein of yarn/WIP/FO? flash or no flash? how on earth am I going to come up with a catchy title for this entry?). You know what I mean.
Knitting brought color into my life. My wardrobe is mainly neutrals, but when it comes to yarn, the brighter, the crazier, the more striking, the better! I would NEVER go to a store and buy socks in any of the colors of the sock yarn I’ve bought. And yes, it might just be crazy to knit socks, they go on dirty, smelly feet after all, but it’s just so cool!
And it’s a challenge. I love a good challenge. I’ve made things before – I know how to sew, needlepoint, cross stitch, and I’ve crocheted an afghan. But knitting…ah, it’s so much more than knit and purl. It’s the endless varieties of yarn and stitches. It’s finding just the right pattern for the yarn. Sometimes it’s being smart enough to realize when a project isn’t turning out and undoing all the hard work, the hours upon hours of making something – gone. But you still have the yarn so you can always start over. Nothing is really lost because you gain in experience and knowledge.
Reading knit blogs is entertaining, inspirational, educational and frequently, for me, frustrating. How do they knit so many things so fast???? I must be the world’s slowest knitter. That’s okay though, because I’m learning. I can feel when my needle picks up plies from other stitches. I used to just plow through. Now I make sure that it’s right (not always, but usually).
There are outward signs that knitting has changed me. I can tell Sgt. Britty the temperature in various parts of the country thanks to knitbloggers, most recently Toronto. He thinks that’s really strange. I don’t think twice about popping in to our mailroom at the office to weigh what’s left of a skein of yarn so I can do the math. I knit in the car (not while driving. Okay, well, only at stoplights), I knit while standing in line at the DMV, I knit sitting in the dental chair waiting for novacain to take effect. I don’t care what people think, and mostly, people are intrigued. “She’s smart, she brought her croshayin’ with her”* “What’re you making?” “That’s pretty.” A lot of people would like to learn to knit and I think the world would be a better place for it. I used to say that gardeners were my people, but knitters are my people too. You have to be patient and caring to see a project through from beginning to end (says she who has finished nothing larger than socks and hats). Even if you aren’t a patient person, knitting brings that out. The click clack of metal needles are as rhythmic as breathing. If the pattern is complicated, it takes your mind off other concerns that you can return to later, refreshed and clear headed. Knitting is a series of small victories; it gives one a sense of accomplishment, not always easily earned but definitely appreciated.
*Good Lord – don’t people know that if you have yarn and four tiny needles, it’s NOT crocheting?????
Comments
3 Responses to “A Whole New World”
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July 31st, 2006 @ 9:58 am
Amen, sista.
August 2nd, 2006 @ 7:22 pm
I’ll come back to read this again and again:
Knitting is a series of small victories; it gives one a sense of accomplishment, not always easily earned but definitely appreciated.
You just said it so well.
(And seriously . . . I thought *I* had the title of World’s Slowest Knitter).
August 3rd, 2006 @ 2:52 pm
LOVE, LOVE the websites!! Too funny!! Grace suggested your website to me and I wanted to contact you but didn’t see a way to EM…..had planned on getting back on your site to post a comment but you beat me to it!! P.S. Mrs. Hawiggins was from the Carol Burnett show……and LAWD honey if you are working with a Mrs. Hawiggins…..how DO you keep a straight face!! LOL!!
Oh…and my theory of those that don’t know the difference between knitting and crocheting??? If you poke them with your pointy little kntting kneedle I bet next time they’ll remember which is knitting and which is crocheting!! Hee! Hee! Ahh…..it’s the little things in life that give us pleasure!! LOL!!