~ [Shadkitty Knitty] ~

Jan 8, 2008

No Resolution

I decided I'm not doing resolutions this year. Why make a list of all of the things I hate about myself, only to still be just me? Maybe I improve one little thing, like taking over the finances, or doing laundry more often. In the long run...it's really not helpful to me. When something becomes a problem, I fix it. I like things that way and don't need to point out all of my faults, then stress about how I'm not keeping my resolutions. The closest thing I have, is that I refuse to cast on any new projects till all of my UFOs are either frogged or FO'ed. Which is actually more of a goal than a resolution. I just want to enjoy this year, last year really seemed to be tough, there were definite good things that happened. Ups and downs like every other year.

This year was definitely a good year knitting-wise. Though, I haven't been knitting for very long. Participated in some swaps, met up with awesome knitters, finished a lot of projects. Tried a few new things. Look at those finished objects! It makes me feel rather productive. But was I a fearless knitter? I'm sure some of you read the Knitting Daily.

How about you? Did you Knit Fearlessly?
I like to think I did, the knitters at my LYS say I'm a challenge oriented knitter, and are always impressed by the way I jump into projects.

What would you knit in 2008 if you were really the knitter you've always dreamed of being?
A shawl. Actually, several shawls, some lightweight lacy ones, maybe a simple worsted one. Functional knits. Things that I would wear more than look at. More gifts.

Here's some things to think about:

• Is there something you haven't tried because it seems Too Scary?
Hm. Not really. No shawls, not because they are "too scary", but because of my fear of becoming bored and abandoning them. So, a fear of commitment?

• Is there a technique you want to learn, or learn to do more skillfully?
Color-work. I'm not 100% pleased with the way my stranding looks.Beading? I guess. Seaming.

• Is there something that stumps you?
Um...nope. I've always been able to figure things out, even if I need help to do it.

• Is there something that you are dying to try, in your secret knitter's heart, but haven't dared because you think you're not a good enough knitter?
I guess I am a fearless knitter, I've never shied away from a pattern or project because I didn't think I could do it. However, spinning on the other hand...I want to spin enough balanced/consistent yarn to knit a sweater.

• Are you always knitting The Same Old Things, and you'd like to try something new?
For awhile it was socks, socks, socks. However, I think I've really expanded my repertoire, as it were. Even learned to crochet a bit!

• Do you always knit for others, and never for yourself? Or perhaps you only knit yourself accessories, but never a lovely cardigan or pullover to wear?
Actually, I'm a selfish knitter. Occasionally I knit for others.... I'm not sure that makes me a fearless knitter. It might be indicative of the opposite. I'm afraid that the beloved knitting will end up at the bottom of someone else's closet and go unappreciated.

So, I think I might be a fearless knitter...but my confidence in other areas is lacking. Note to self: work on being a fearless crocheter and spinner. :) I've posted random pictures of my weekend and all throughout.

Labels: friends, goals, hair, hanging out, Jayne Hat, kids, knitting, life, lists/surveys, pictures, reflections, resolutions, updating, weekend

23:43 | |

Mar 12, 2007

Composition on Knitblogging

com·po·si·tion [kom-puh-zish-uhn]
–noun 1. the act of combining parts or elements to form a whole.
2. the resulting state or product.
3. manner of being composed; structure: This painting has an orderly composition.
4. makeup; constitution: His moral composition was impeccable.
5. an aggregate material formed from two or more substances: a composition of silver and tin.
6. a short essay written as a school exercise.
7. the act or process of producing a literary work.
8. an academic course for teaching the techniques of clear, expository writing.
9. the art of putting words and sentences together in accordance with the rules of grammar and rhetoric.
10. a piece of music.
11. the art of composing music.
12. Fine Arts. the organization or grouping of the different parts of a work of art so as to achieve a unified whole.
13. Grammar. the formation of compounds or derivatives: the composition of “aircraft” from “air” and “craft.”
14. a settlement by mutual agreement.
15. an agreement or compromise, esp. one by which a creditor or group of creditors accepts partial payment from a debtor.
16. a sum of money so paid.
17. Printing.
a. the setting up of type for printing.
b. Also called pagination. the makeup of pages for printing.

18. Mathematics. the process of making a composite function of two given functions.

That is quite a definition, however, in this case I'm using (loosely) the ninth definition (which I underlined for you). Be gentle, I wrote this very early in the morning. Also, it contains personal information that is hard for me to share. There is no knitting content in this post, so just don't read it if you aren't interested.

Where do I begin? I've said it before, but have never fully expressed my love of the knitblogging community. My husband took the good computer with him over the weekend and I though, "Well, good. Now I'll really get some knitting done". I had no idea what effect being with that link to the internet would be like.

First, a bit of background, to understand better my response to the community blogging provides. When I first moved to North Carolina, two and a half years ago, I was very lonely. We had one child, no cable or local television, one care and I was miles away from everything familiar. Things were not very good, it's rough to be a young mother married to a Marine. Ask anyone who's done it. Moreover, the therapists were telling me I had hypo-manic-depression, my husband and I were going through marital counseling after only six months of marriage...I had never felt so alone in my whole life. At one point I was so desperate that I attempted suicide, it's hard for me to talk about even today. Still, as I stated previously, I want to tell you all of this so that you can see what all of you and knitting have meant to me. This was all in the summer of 2004.

There is about a year gap between "the bad time" and the point when I began to knit. In that time my marriage progressed, we had a second child, I got a job...things were looking up. My husband was always supportive of my creativity and love of crafts, he was always encouraging me to look outside of myself and find friends. With time I made friends who had similar interests to mine and became less closed off. Life was getting into a comfortable, happy groove. Shortly after Heather's second birthday and Kyran's first, we received some unexpected news.

I was pregnant again.

You can imagine how we felt. My body doesn't handle pregnancy well, not to mention the negative effects the hormones have on my already unstable emotions. As Justin likes to put it, I get psycho. lol At any rate I felt a real depression coming on. I was looking for any way to distract myself. Most of my free time was spent aimlessly surfing the internet. Even though I was doing "something" it often felt like nothing and was boring. On one of these occasions I turned up a picture of this ultra cute knitted hat...with kitty ears! Which I now know to be the Kittyville hat, of course. Having ever been the crafty type I said to myself, "Self, you can make this!" Thus began my introduction to knitting. My first attempt (a pair of legwarmers in Lion Brand Homespun) came out a miserable and hideous failure. I've since thrown them away, even though I am the sentimental type, they were depressing me.

Now, had it not been for my discovery of The Tail Spinner, I might have given up entirely. But I was not to be thwarted. In March of 2006 I walked into my first yarn shop, and a part of me has never left. It was awkward at first, I felt a little uncomfortable and afraid to be laughed out of the shop on account of my age. Though I had never felt reserved before about going into a craft shop. The owner, Linda, was kind and helped me to get my bearings. She set me up with the materials for making my first hat. I am still of the opinion that hats are better first projects than scarves, however that's not what I'm writing about here.

Being the internet junk I am, I Googled many things knitting related: patterns, techniques, actually that was how I found The Tail Spinner. So, it only seemed natural to begin a blog. Never did I realize how big this would all become for me. Knitting is the best drug in the world, and yarn junkies are some of the coolest people out there.

Many of you have never me me "in real life", still I feel that you might know me better than some of the people who have. We are all so different, different paths, homes, personalities, this one overlapping interest is enough for us to reach out to one another. In knitting, we have a common bond. I feel as if I could call you up to get together for coffee or tea (though I drink neither), or perhaps we might take our kids to the park for a play date. My knitblogging friends feel more real to me than the "friends" who live around the corner. People that I don't even bother to call, despite that my husband was gone for five days and I was alone with all three children. Our community is strong. We help one another out with knitting problems, support and encourage each other in our knitting ambitions. I've received many comments and emails of praise and inspiriting words when I've felt down. You are all so kind, I look forward to checking my bloglines every day and reading your updates. Some day I do hope to meet some of you in person, maybe we could get a slice of pizza? Without my internet, I felt truly lonely again. The knitblogging community has helped me to connect with people and given me friends. A new sense of self worth that I could find previously has been instilled by those of you who take time out of your day to read what I write here. It might sound silly to some, but not me.

What am I trying to say? Simply that I appreciate each and ever one of you, you all mean something to me. I consider you my friends, even if this is our only correspondence. Thank you for reading my blogs, hopefully I am as good a knitblogging friend to all of you as you are to me.

Labels: blogging, gratitude, life, rambling, reflections, writing

11:01 | |

Jan 10, 2007

Do The Monkey!

The consesus is to use Suzanne to knit the Monkey socks. So, I will. It will probably be one of my first projects in February, since the yarn is SO absolutely beautiful. I think I have set some pretty crazy goals for ProjSpec. I'm going to do my first sweater, some stranding/color-work for the first time, and work with lace-weight yarn! Not to mention I seem to have a much larger project list than most people. Though, many people tell me I'm a fast knitter. I finished a pair of Knucks in four days, a sock in two (note: just one sock), and a tube top in a week. However, if it's something I just don't feel like doing, or that requires seaming, I can definitely take my time. Like, my mom's top. Or my Aunt's socks. How about that scarf for Secret Pal 8? Actually, that's nearly finished now.

See my little supermodel? lol She was too cute modelling for these pictures. I certainly hope that this is long enough! The fringe is alright looking. I wish I'd made it longer though. Oh well. After I get off here, and clean up, I will finish the fringe. Then, tomorrow probably, it's off to the post office! Gotta go get a new ID anyway.

It's funny, although I was told when I went to Nolan's doctor's appointment yesterday, I just really thought about my expired ID this morning. When I first got married, I was really unhappy about moving away and moreso about marrying a military man. Something I promised myself I'd NEVER do! So, when I would look at my ID the expiration date represented a sort of freedom. I couldn't wait for that day to come. Now it has come and gone, barely even a blip on the radar. Obviously, I knew we were going to re-sign before it happened. Still, it's odd how priorities shift.

That's enough of THAT nonsense. Anyways, I don't remember if I said anything about wanting to sell some hand-dyed yarn before. I think I did. What do you guys think? It's not going to be like...huge or anything. Not like, a full-time job. I don't expect to be as famous as Mama-E, Scout, or the Yarn Pirate. Just, make a little money to save up for a wheel and other things like that. Probably won't be buying any yarn until after we get our tax returns. But when I do, I think I'm going to

give out some samples to my dedicated readers (I know who you are!), let me know what kinds of colors you like, some that you don't really use much, some you absolutely hate. For some of you I kinda have an idea from reading your blogs and seeing the things you've done, but I also want to kinda...draw you out. Maybe encourage you to knit with colors that aren't your usual, but I don't want to go overboard.

Oh, I know that the picture is totally unrelated. But it's awfully cute.

Labels: babies, knitting, reflections, selling yarn

21:07 | |

Dec 31, 2006

Knit in the New Year

Okay, so I've decided I don't want to necessarily bore you with my New Year's resolutions. Especially because it was four pages handwritten, two typed.

I do want to tell you I have started the second Thuja sock. Only on the toe though, because I ripped it out a couple of times. For some reason I just wasn't liking the way it looked, and once when I got all of the increases done and was about to start knitting around, I realized I'd forgotten a whole set of increases on one side. D'oh!

You know, I realized today, as I started the toe of Justin's second Thuja sock for the third time, I am somewhat of a sock knitting anomaly. I like using DPNs. I like knitting both socks one at a time (unless I'm doing endless rounds of stockinette). I love grafting sock toes. Magic-loop. Yep. I want to try extreme sock knitting, colorwork, and argyle. The only things I'm not fond of? Trying to knit flat socks (seaming? ew) and using two circs. Gimme sock yarn, tons and tons of it. All colors and brands. I whipped out the Hedera socks in (essentially) 10 days. Had it not been for all the craziness with the Thuja socks, they would have been finished in a week.

Slowly I'm working through all of my projects until the only one left is that top for my mom. *sigh* I will NOT cast on any more projects until it's complete. I suppose that should be a resolution too huh? lol

Labels: life, reflections, resolutions, socks

22:06 | |

Dec 20, 2006

Beginning of the End

The year is almost over, there are only eleven days left. And since I'm here, I might as well reflect a bit. I stole this from Lolly who took it from someone else. And you can feel more than free to take it as well. I think I'd like to make it a yearly thing, seeing as how this is actually my first year knitting, it'd make for a nice review.

What is your absolute favorite project you've ever knit (one that fulfilled both process and product)?

My absolute favorite has got to be the Cheshire kitty hat. I know it's such a simple project, but I really learned a lot from it. Besides, it was the whole reason that I started knitting, and finishing it felt like the greatest thing in the world to me. Like I could walk on water. The bamboo was so beautiful to work with, the colors are fantastic, it is utterly pleasing.

Which of your handknits do you wear the most often?

My hats. I love hats, making them and wearing them. But then, I haven't made many large projects yet. We are getting there.

What was your favorite gift to knit?

By far, this has been my dad's Mancala Mia. It turned out just lovely. Knitting a gift makes me happy in general. I like to know that what I'm spending my time on will be loved and cherished. This is part of the reason the Mancala board that I made for him is so wonderful. It was a rather quick knit, and it is sentimental as well. I can't wait to hear his reaction.

Which of your handknits are gathering dust your closet?

*sigh* A lot. The Lelah top that I made while pregnant. It's acrylic and just not well suited for NC weather. As well as the newly finished Cleaves. Which were already gathering dust while waiting to be finished. Now that they are, I am just unhappy with the results.

Which of your handknits have you gotten rid of?

Hm. I ripped a couple of hats. As a matter of fact, one of the hats pictured earlier was ripped. But mostly I've been happy with the things I made. Though those Cleaves are blackballed.

If you've knit socks, what is your favorite pattern?

By far, Baudelaire. They are too beautiful. Then, of course, I loved the ones I made for my mom. Ha, maybe that should have been the answer to question number one? It was amazing to have something go from a pattern book, to my mind, to the needles. Soon they'll be on her feet! :)

What would you like to make in 2007?

Whew, do we even wanna go there? I have a list here and there is one on the side of the page. Things I already have yarn for are Tubey, Jamesey, Pomatomus, and Baby Yoda sweater. Some very fun upcoming projects are plans for an uber-cropped raglan in Alpaca Seta and figuring out how to recreate this sweater.

What have you learned about your craft in 2006?

That, I am only a beginner. As such, my addiction is only beginning to form. People will look at me strangely, but it's okay. Mistakes are alright as well. No matter how awesome a knitter may be they will make mistakes. Though I have learned how to fix almost any error I may encounter. I'm always up to learning more.

And I don't like to have people hover when I knit, though I'll talk to you about it til your ears fall off.

What events/sites have you particularly enjoyed in the blogosphere in 2006?

I've hardly been able to participate in anything. My blogging started back in April/May, and I didn't really get involved until maybe...July-ish. Though I did participate in Secret Pal 8, which was fantastic. I can't wait to be a part of all of the new KALs and other events next year! Another SP would be wonderful, I really loved it.

With that all finished, how is it that people always update their bloggies while I'm not around to read them? I finally pried DH away from WoW long enough to update for you all. We leave Maryland tomorrow, headed back home for Christmas. Our Anniversary is the 22nd, and we will probably do nothing. *sigh*

Any how, while here I finally made a trek out to a shop! Silly me, I forgot my digital cam and have no pictures. It's sad that I don't because it was really quite chic. I hopped on the metro and poked around DC alone to find Stitch DC Georgetown. Could have gone to the Capitol Hill one, as it was easiest (take the Green line straight to the Eastern Market station) but really, SE DC by myself? Not I, said the cat. Since it took me a half hour (plus my stop at Johnny Rockets to pee and eat) to get there, I decided I had to make the best of it and gawk at everything. Fondling and holding the yarns. There were plenty that I had no access to at my LYS. Seriously, I had to try very hard to NOT buy a $53 skein of Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace. It was lovely...with a free shawl pattern? And I don't even like pink! But it reminded me of the sunset and I wanted it sooo badly. Instead, all I got was a couple of balls of Organic Blue Sky Cotton. I'm thinking a sweater for Nolan.

I can't wait for Christmas...so that I can buy more yarn! Not sure what I'll end up with. My mom is the only one I really have presents left to recieve. That's okay though. My MIL bought me some great Pyrex bakeware, which I badly needed and wanted. Now I can actually cook! Yes. Justin bought me a Paradise Kiss DVD, which I would watch now if I could figure out how to get the DVD player to work here. I had almost forgotten how much I love that show. It really is one that I could just watch again and again.

*yawnSTRETCH* I'm off to try to finish my endless bamboo ankle socks (which btw I could have finished long ago but am trying to use up all of the yarn, and I turned the heels on the way to Stitch DC) and watch Forensic Files.

Labels: knitting, lists/surveys, pictures, reflections

23:08 | |