Knit-Wit

As if I needed something else to do with my time, I’m learning how to knit.

Now, this is rather odd for me.  I’m not very domestic at all.  Though I love my daylilies, my physical problems over the past year have kept me from getting down and dirty in the gardens.  I have a to-do list a mile long every day that most often doesn’t get completed.  I have writing projects waiting to be done, I’m whittling away at freelance work, I schedule in my animal communication sessions every day … and now I’m knitting.

I’m not knitting very well, of course, but give me time.  I may not ever create amazing works of fiber art, but I’m sure I’ll at least get to the point that I keep the family supplied in scarves for life.

What started this odd obsession?  For yes, an obsession it is.  My “extended artist’s date” for The Artist’s Way has been a weekend of You Tube, reading websites, following instructions, and teaching myself the basics.  I started out with a pair of sharpened pencils and a ball of package twine, which looked so silly that my husband came home with aluminum knitting needles tucked behind his ears the other day.

(Like that didn’t look silly?)

I thought I might find some yarn in my mother’s belongings, but a search through closets and drawers yielded only three crochet hooks.  She hadn’t crocheted for years before her death, due to arthritis in her thumbs.

And that was what started it.

I lay in bed the other night, and, despite knowing better, each time I’d start to drift toward sleep, my mind would begin to focus on worries.  I know that negative thoughts should be replaced with positive, an overwriting of infected mental files, as it were.  I was fine with doing that as long as I was alert enough to hold the thought, but as my mind grew drowsy, the worries would poke their ugly heads back in.

Then, in front of me, so clear I could almost touch them, were Mom’s hands, crocheting.  I watched how her fingers worked the yarn, the in and out of her crochet hook … so soothing.  I fell asleep with Mom’s hands comforting my thoughts, and woke in the morning with the overpowering urge to do something with yarn.

I couldn’t find a crochet hook at home, nor could I find any yarn.  So, out came a pair of sharpened pencils and a ball of string and I started to knit.

Now, I find the click and slide of the aluminum knitting needles almost hypnotically relaxing.  I’ve been absorbing kitting how-tos all weekend long, and I am eager to get some real yarn, and make some real … stuff.  I’m sure, like many, I’ll start with a simple cable-stitch scarf, or some squares to sew together into a lap throw.

I never expected to find myself, at fifty two years of age, taking up knitting.  It seems so much like something Mom might do, but not me.  It works, though, and it’s good, and I’m looking forward to continuing the process.

As to the lack of time, knitting is something you can pick up in those fifteen minutes between projects, when you really don’t have time to start something lengthy.  Between finishing a website update and starting dinner, I’ll knit a few rows.  While the pasta is boiling and the garlic bread’s in the oven, I’ll complete a swatch of color.  In the evening when the family descends on the television in this room and I can’t concentrate to write, I’ll turn the heel of a sock.

It’s all good.

I thought I’d start a new category, here under my “hobby blog” section of gazehound.com.  I will photograph some of my clumsy efforts and share them here, and perhaps those who also enjoy yarn crafts might like to share, as well.  Comments are always welcome.

I have found another good excuse to take up knitting, too, though I stumbled across it accidentally while reading how-to articles on about.com.  Sarah White, in her blog on that site, talks about knitting as a way to help people lose weight.  Have a look:

http://knitting.about.com/b/2009/09/19/another-good-reason-to-knit-potential-for-easing-comfort-eating.htm

Makes sense to me!

Maybe I’ll post some photos of the new, thinner, me, as well!

Happy Sunday, everyone!

First Knitting Practice