June 04, 2003 - 8:17 p.m.
In evaluation of things that I do with my life I came to a conclusion a few weeks ago. I need a hobby. Go ahead and laugh, I will be here � I can wait. Back? Get all of that out of your system?
But seriously, I need something small and portable; something that doesn�t require a series of tools or large unpackable things. Something I can do without getting REALLY confused looks from everyone around me. Something that results in the creation of something fun and possibly even useful or decorative. For example, I have the ability to weave but taking a loom to a fire station causes more questions than it is worth. Casting is strait out from the portable perspective and it isn�t really something I can do in the middle of a 5 hour road trip.
I wish that I could be low maintenance and pick up something like lucet work. This leads me to admit that I have broken lucets before � something about tension (as in I apply too much of it). And besides � you spend a long time making string into � bigger string. I had a conversation this past weekend with someone about being a process or product person. She is process, all the joy in the making. Not me baby � all about the stuff. Bring me product or bring me cross-eyed madness.
Needlework is out � been there done that. Even have samplers hanging on the walls of Mom�s house to prove it. Really the only thing that they prove is that just because you can do a thing, doesn�t mean that you like it. I am an engineer; of course they are neat, symmetrical and decent looking � but inspired they are not! I have the greatest respect for those people that do needlework, it made me crazy. I am plenty crazy as is � so needle working is out.
I won�t bore you all with the other options, I will cut to the chase. Monday my plane landed in Orlando, and I got in my rental car and drove to the site in Melbourne. Along the way I passed a Michael�s crafts and pulled into the lot. My new hobby begins here. I will learn to knit. Go ahead �more laughter, again I will wait. So things I have learned thus far:
- Trying to find wool in Florida in June is good only for the amusement of the nice lady who works in the store. She found me a blend, it was as close as she could get.
- They make many many books on learning to knit, and they all have the same 5 pictures. All 5 pictures show most of a hand position or two, but if you are looking for another view, or a different angle have fun with that. All the books, all 6.2 million of them, have the SAME PICTURES!!
- If the book claims to have special instructions for left-handers, that just means a paragraph telling you that your options are bleak. Either reverse everything (good luck with that) or buck up and learn it the same as everyone else. I chose the later � well I thought I chose the latter, I will come back to that.
- It is entirely possible that I should have gone with the bigger needles (are those sticks really needles?) that the book recommends. But they were out of that size and the smaller ones looked more familiar to what my SCA friends use. Of course that might mean I should have gotten smaller yarn too. The word for my efforts � dense.
- Just cause the first step is called casting on, that doesn�t mean a thing about moulten metal. There is nothing friendly about casting on. They just call it that to tease me.
- How can there be so many things to hold onto if there are just two sticks and one piece of string? They have to be held the same way each time, and worse still with the same tension each time. Tension mistakes now � they come back to haunt you on the next row too. Ugh.
- Learning to knit by a breezy poolside � tactically lacking. The book flutters, then I reach out for the page, then I drop a needle, then �well it goes badly from there.
- Words do not adequately explain moving string in three dimensions. Remember how I said the pictures only have one angle? Dude, this thing is in 3 dimensions. I kept flipping the page over hoping that there was eternal meaning and real instructions hidden on the next page. No matter how often I flipped the page over the text remained entirely the same � and obscure.
- After several long attempts I now have the ability to make rows of knitting. They are slow going, they are lumpy but I have a fuzzy blue blob that is a few inches wide and an inch tall. People make blankets like this? I could invest a year and maybe work my way up to a scarf!
- Strangely, my process looks nothing like the pictures of hands on the page. I have the string on the wrong hand but the knitting growing on the same needle they show. Does this mean I am knitting left-handed or just in a uniquely Kyna way?
And yes � I found it relaxing, I think. Certainly while being
stumped by a piece of string my mind was NOT on work, or SCA, or bills
to be paid. I think, however, that I will put off learning to pearl
for a few more days. The brain can only handle so much abuse in one
week. :)
Update: most of this entry was written Tuesday afternoon � after writing
the main portion I tackled the ball of string once again. I am now
the prowd owner of a blue fuzzy bit that has grown to about 3� x 5�
I was ridiculiously pleased when I managed to get through 3 whole rows
without some drastic mistake or odd dropped stitches. I considered
that a sign and went to bed after that. :)
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