K2, P2 - A Knitty MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

As I’ve mentioned a mere 43,288,389,294 times in the past few weeks, I recently took up knitting again. It was a brief break; only 20 years or so. So, instead of completing other items on my overflowing to-do list (such as, say, taxes and Valentines), I’ve been knitting. And knitting. And knitting. Late into the night.

And buying yarn.

And buying books and magazines about knitting

And searching thrift stores for garments that can be unraveled and reclaimed. There are some hideous creations out there that are made of perfectly lovely fibers screaming to be used properly. Well, maybe not hideous, but certainly not something I’d wear in their original design.

It’s really amusing to see how I focus on knitted and crocheted items wherever I go now. All kinds of knitting-related questions keep running through my mind. Are they handmade? Could I make something like that? How would I modify it? Haven’t actually asked anyone about a knitted item yet, but I’m sure that’s coming.

And the thrift store looks much different when you’re thinking about reclaiming. You don’t have to worry about sizes. Just become adept at identifying seams that tell you whether the garment can be pulled apart and make sure the item isn’t particularly worn. I found a couple of really helpful articles about this. Haven’t actually unraveled anything yet, but I have 4 sweaters waiting to be undone. (No rush; I’ve got plenty to do already.)

As with cooking and recipes, I seem to be constitutionally unable to follow a pattern exactly. For the hat I knit this weekend, I started with this pattern. Only the headband on mine is ribbed instead of cabled. And the body is about 3 inches shorter than is called for in the pattern.

I kept putting it on my head as I was knitting and started to decrease when it was a size I thought I liked. Should have taken a picture; I’m sure it looked amusing to see someone wearing a very wide headband topped with 4 chopsticks with fluorescent silicon tips.

Ever one to overthink things, I’ve been pondering: why knitting? why now? My current theory is that I have too many things in my life (especially work life) that feel out of control; I have what feels like complete control over every item I knit. Also, it’s nice to be able to watch something on TV or on the laptop and still feel like I’m getting something done.

I’d like to thank those of you who pushed me over the edge back into knitterdom: MamaTigs, Shadow, taxi, rigs, TroubleAgain, mousie, FCM, tarra and anyone else who has mentioned knitting or crocheting in the MMP or on LJ. I’m sure Faraway Best Friend thanks you as well. She’s been an avid knitter for a long time and will be happy to have me knitting along next to her the next time we get together.

And to those of you who don’t knit: it’s much warmer on this side of the fence. :smiley:

GT

2

W00T! Fisrt!

3

WOOT! Second!

I discovered I have no patience for crochet long ago. However, I do have the patience to spend months on a cross-stitch project. :confused:

4

Drat. Third.

I’ll really contribute tomorrow.

5

Yay knitting!

I just started a new project (I always seem to just start a new project… but this one called to me so hardcore and I’ve been working away pretty steady so I hope it sticks long enough to finish it…) Mr Greenjeans from Knitty.

I float in and out of MMP all the time but lately I can’t come in, cuz I have to do nothing at work that is not work related now, even on break, and I never have other time. I find it hard to surf and knit at the same time, so that doesn’t work so well for me.

I think I shall go work on my sweater before I crash. Maybe I’ll kick around more this week…

6

Knitters are a foreign species to me. Of course, I’ll be as nice as possible to find me one to make a scarf…

Alas, I am not crafty so I don’t have anything to contribute. The only thing I know how to make are kids that talk back to me.

7

zooooommmmmmm … busy morning. Will read and respond appropriately later! :slight_smile:

8

As some crafty women get older knitting comes more naturally to them–it’s a way of instilling order into one’s surroundings, creating order from chaos. It’s a very crone thing to do… Nothing pejorative there, mind you, it’s just a name for a certain state of life. :wink:

I can do very basic knitting and crocheting but the bug has never really hit me, I’m much more into sewing. On the other hand, it gets cold up here and good hats & mittens are a boon so I may learn a little more and get into it. That one scarf somebody (Shadow, maybe?) knitted on the gigantic needles looked like hell’s fun and I really think I’d like something of that nature in a comfy merino… Hmmm…

Oh crap, the MMP is contagious, run! :smiley:

9

I took up knitting about four years ago, and I definitely sort of wandered away from patterns REALLY quickly thereafter. I still can’t really finish something without tweaking it.

On January first this year I started my first crochet project, a fairly basic lace shawl. Now I’m on my second crocheted lace wrap, a more stole-like object. I am a woman possessed. I totally relate to the OP. Crochet, with stitch diagrams, makes sense like WOAH. And I have already picked more projects I want to do.

If I had started to crochet before I learned to knit I may never have taken up knitting. It feels so intuitive! But I’m glad I learned to knit, because the possibilities with the two crafts are pretty limitless. (Seriously, someone knit a rowboat.)

Not sure about the crone status. Not quite ready to go there at 32. But then, back home, I was the odd girl out for not having mastered knitting. I was a late bloomer to only get going in my twenties. The shame!

10

I have successfully recruited two new knitters in the last three weeks. There’s a knitting group at work and since everyone wants to hang out with me (heh) I guess they figured taking up sticks would help.

Right now I’m working on:

  1. St. Brigid in a beautiful eggplant color (Cascade 220).
  2. Turning a hippie died scarf into socks.
  3. Making a hat for a gift exchange.

I can’t stop knitting. There aren’t enough hours in the day for me to get my fill. It’s so bad that I have considered taking a day off work to knit.

11

I recently learned how to crochet, and it is fun to do. I want to make a bunch of blankets and just have them around. You can never have too many blankets.

12

I love that pattern! That was the first cardigan I knitted; I actually made two, one for me and one for my daughter. It goes pretty fast, especially if you learn to knit stockinette stitch without looking, so you can read the Dope and knit at the same time.

I’m knitting Oblique from Knitty for my mother’s birthday in April. That should be enough time to finish it.

13

I refuse to knit: it’s something my mother did, so I don’t… and yes, I know I should get my head checked, but thing is, if I take up anything she does, she can criticise my work for months.

I’ve got a half-stitch (not sure if that’s what it’s called in English) pattern of a squirrel to do. Mom did cross-stitch (she was very, very surprised when a cross-stitch pattern I had to do for class turned out to be better than hers, hah!) but not half-stitch. I doubt I’ll be able to drag mine ass into taking up the needle before this stretch of snowy weather is out, though.

Yesterday I took a 4 hour siesta. It was needed, and justified. Low pressure makes me sleepy, and yesterday’s low pressure meant some 3" of snow on the floor (and on my car!) this morning. Booootiful but dang, it looks prettier when you don’t need to go out :stuck_out_tongue:

Sheboss doesn’t want to give me any vacation; her response when I asked was a whinny “oh no it’s impossible, you can’t do this to me!” which made me want to ask how come the project can’t survive a week without me and by the way may I have a raise, since I’m so terribly necessary? I’ve asked what holidays does our client have, but there’s only four compulsory ones in the year and two were the 2nd and 3rd of January. The other two are Holy Friday and the next Monday, so I’ll try to nab a long weekend for Easter I guess, or for St Joseph (March 19th) which is a national holiday in Spain and this year falls on a Thursday.

Her proposal is to go home some weekend. That means, for example, glasgow-london on friday night, spend the night in the airport, london-saragossa first thing saturday morning, my brother comes to pick me up, spend some 24h “at home,” take the flight saragossa-london before lunchtime on sunday and be back in glasgow in time for dinner on sunday. Shoot me please, before I shoot her :stuck_out_tongue:
ETA: this post needs more smileys :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue:

14

Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffienatin’. YAWN BLURF

I got nuttin’ to say OP wise. So I’ll just say thanks gt for startin’ us off.

My haid is all fuzzy this mornin’. Must wake up.

Nava take vacation time. If for no other reason, it’ll mess with sheboss. :smiley:

Ok, need more caffiene. And brekkies. And work purtification.

Later Y’all!

15

I am not a knitter! I vaguely recall learning how to knit and crochet when I was about 10, but those skills are now hidden deep in the recesses of my brain. My mother’s craftiness puts me to shame, honestly! When we were sorting out baby clothes for HRH before she was born, Mum produced a couple of “heirloom” items that she had made for me as a baby, including a couple of beautiful smocked dresses, some handmade baby blankets and some knitted booties. Sigh … I wish I had the time to learn!

Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather this morning when MIL turned around and asked me to get a car-seat for HRH to put in MIL’s car[sup]*[/sup]. Whaa … ??? Ohhhhh-kay! Sure! Apparently, MIL has just had an epiphany - an unrestrained toddler in a car can easily be seriously injured or killed, even in a relatively minor accident! No arguments here! I even bunked off work this afternoon to go and buy a car-seat!

  • There is a serious “God’s will” issue here in relation to child car safety - if your child dies after being catapulted from his position standing on the centre console out through the front windscreen, it was “God’s will” that the child die. Forget about the fact that, for a little as US$100, you can buy a car-seat that will save you the heartache and grief - it’s all about “God’s will”! :rolleyes:
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Do what I did. Become way better than she is at it. Don’t tell her you’re learning until you’re fabulous. Then when she takes out a project she’s completed, just pull out yours and say, “That’s not sweater. THIS is a sweater.”

17

Good morning all, up and caffeinating here and ready to head to work.

Wonderful OP, GT! I feel compelled to confess (hah!) that I tried to knit but found myself completely unable to coordinate needles in both hands. The crochet hook, fortunately, presented much less of a problem. Now by no means am I “crafty,” in fact, I’ve refused to take any pictures of my works yet, because they still don’t look all that great. But I’m getting the hang of it, and hopefully will get that tension right at some point. laughs The scarf I’m currently working on is a lot crooked and has already been unraveled several times. I’ll eventually get it right!

Dotty, so glad to hear of your MIL’s epiphany!! :eek: I just know you were as well.

Happy Monday all - is it Firday yet?!

18

The one scarf I tried to knit came out as a rather pitiful, disfigured rectangular excuse for a scarf. I’m not meticulous enough to be a good knitter. :smack:

Must buy motorcycle helmet this week. :eek:

19

Must post motorcycle pics, then. Or at least proper linky to motorcycle model webpage.

20

I like GT’s scarf. It looks nice, warm, and comfy.

I wish I was wearing it now.
(crap, I see the photo was uploaded 2 weeks ago, it’s already gone.)

Hi kids!