Storms and Submersive Knitting
It's storming here in Austin, Texas. It's still freakin' nearly 80 degrees but it's storming and since every day that we aren't in the high 90's at this point is a sheer gift, I am sitting with my feet up and the windows open, listening to the thunder crash around the heavens and comforting various uneasy pets.
And I am thinking Deep Thoughts.
Many of them have to do with knitting. I know that my non-knitting readers are thinking that maybe I've been Body Snatched or something because I used to have hobbies that were cooler --probably literally --than knitting. At least in the eyes of popular culture. Knitting is still seen as some sort of musty habit indulged in by people who refer to "the Old Country" where they learned to knit and who probably do other strange things like keep their teeth in jars by their beds. Well, all I have to say is that y'all need to get over it. Plenty of hip, young people (which, by the way, is also not my social strata) are knitting and while I am a slave to popular culture as much as anyone, knitting has become my favorite thing.
I was thinking about it just now, thinking Deeply, and the truth is, I can't explain it. I am not a patient person. I am not that disciplined in my creative work (although I'm working on that.) I am into immediate gratification in many, many things, especially in my free time since I get so little immediate gratification in my real job as a mother. I'm not that organized a person and I hate beyond measure to have to redo things I've done. And yet, there I was at 3:00 this morning, ripping out thirty rows on this sock I'm knitting for Ana because I forgot to do the decreases after the heel (I didn't say I was a good knitter--just that I love it) and thinking about how much I love this gorgeous sock--my fourth sock so far-- and how I was absolutely going to make myself finish the second one before I tried something new, like a sweater.
And then I had this momentous thought, which was to wonder if I could adapt the pattern to two circular needles so that I wouldn't drop so many stitches (this yarn is really hard for me to keep on the needles for some reason and the foul language I've used IN MY MIND as I've been knitting this sock has surpassed even my own personal best to date.)
There you have it --you can see exactly what kind of knitter I'll be, can't you? I'll be a Subversive Knitter --always mucking about with the pattern and never doing swatches and dropping stiches and having to go back and unpick yards of wool until I get exactly what I want. Right now I lack the expertise to do too much damage but it won't be long.
And then I had another momentous thought: I CANNOT FREAKING WAIT. Seriously, I can't wait to try a sweater --many sweaters --and to create my own patterns and to knit socks for all of my friends and/or relatives and to take small knitted items as hostess gifts instead of an almost dead geranium in a hand-painted pot. This morning I was reading the HISTORY of knitting and it was almost too exciting to bear (of course, it was written by the Yarn Harlot in her new book The Yarn Harlot Casts Off and let's face it, I'd read a telephone book if she'd write one but still.)
So, I don't know, maybe the Body Snatchers are real and blew in with this storm. At any rate, I am thinking (Deeply)about starting a new blog called The Subversive Knitter so that I can drone on and on about knitting without alienating my non-knitting readers. I don't know yet, because I really need to be doing less blogging (and knitting, sigh) and more writing for yarn money but the idea is there.
In the meanwhile, I'm listening to this storm and thinking, Deeply, about it all.
And I am thinking Deep Thoughts.
Many of them have to do with knitting. I know that my non-knitting readers are thinking that maybe I've been Body Snatched or something because I used to have hobbies that were cooler --probably literally --than knitting. At least in the eyes of popular culture. Knitting is still seen as some sort of musty habit indulged in by people who refer to "the Old Country" where they learned to knit and who probably do other strange things like keep their teeth in jars by their beds. Well, all I have to say is that y'all need to get over it. Plenty of hip, young people (which, by the way, is also not my social strata) are knitting and while I am a slave to popular culture as much as anyone, knitting has become my favorite thing.
I was thinking about it just now, thinking Deeply, and the truth is, I can't explain it. I am not a patient person. I am not that disciplined in my creative work (although I'm working on that.) I am into immediate gratification in many, many things, especially in my free time since I get so little immediate gratification in my real job as a mother. I'm not that organized a person and I hate beyond measure to have to redo things I've done. And yet, there I was at 3:00 this morning, ripping out thirty rows on this sock I'm knitting for Ana because I forgot to do the decreases after the heel (I didn't say I was a good knitter--just that I love it) and thinking about how much I love this gorgeous sock--my fourth sock so far-- and how I was absolutely going to make myself finish the second one before I tried something new, like a sweater.
And then I had this momentous thought, which was to wonder if I could adapt the pattern to two circular needles so that I wouldn't drop so many stitches (this yarn is really hard for me to keep on the needles for some reason and the foul language I've used IN MY MIND as I've been knitting this sock has surpassed even my own personal best to date.)
There you have it --you can see exactly what kind of knitter I'll be, can't you? I'll be a Subversive Knitter --always mucking about with the pattern and never doing swatches and dropping stiches and having to go back and unpick yards of wool until I get exactly what I want. Right now I lack the expertise to do too much damage but it won't be long.
And then I had another momentous thought: I CANNOT FREAKING WAIT. Seriously, I can't wait to try a sweater --many sweaters --and to create my own patterns and to knit socks for all of my friends and/or relatives and to take small knitted items as hostess gifts instead of an almost dead geranium in a hand-painted pot. This morning I was reading the HISTORY of knitting and it was almost too exciting to bear (of course, it was written by the Yarn Harlot in her new book The Yarn Harlot Casts Off and let's face it, I'd read a telephone book if she'd write one but still.)
So, I don't know, maybe the Body Snatchers are real and blew in with this storm. At any rate, I am thinking (Deeply)about starting a new blog called The Subversive Knitter so that I can drone on and on about knitting without alienating my non-knitting readers. I don't know yet, because I really need to be doing less blogging (and knitting, sigh) and more writing for yarn money but the idea is there.
In the meanwhile, I'm listening to this storm and thinking, Deeply, about it all.
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