Just, why? Why do you do it?

I recently saw a blog article titled "Why Bother Knitting a Scarf?".  It was a short article that summed up a few of the reasons a lot of knitters would nod their heads in agreement to.  It had a couple points that were socially conscious, supporting local small businesses (like indie dyers and local yarn stores) and touched on the emotional and health benefits.  And I thought, that's a nice piece.  But is that really why?

I get asked a variation of that question frequently.  Sometimes it's my dear husband tentatively posing it when I've ripped something out after starting it three times and thrown the mess of yarn across the room.  Sometimes, I'm asked that question while knitting in a waiting room or while my daughter is in her ballet class.  Most non-knitters don't know that a really good sock yarn is not inexpensive so they aren't even aware that a comment such as "You know you can buy a whole bag of socks at Walmart for that cheap?" is way off base.  Ha!  If only I could get a skein of Happy Feet or Socks That Rock for the price of a bag of Walmart socks!

So why?  For me it's much simpler and more complicated than a couple bullet points.  But in the end, the reason I bother with the hassles that go into finding the perfect pattern for the perfect yarn, or getting gauge, or learning a new cast-on, or finally finishing a WIP is just this:  "Because I can!"

This is one of the new techniques I recently learned.  Arm knitting!  It was loosely based on Simply Maggie's Arm Knitted Infinity Cowl.  My daughter says it looks like a hammock and it is a little bulky for down south, but it was fun.

No Interest in Knitting - Scary!

I didn't get much knitting done this weekend.  Not because it was Father's Day ergo I was subject to my hubby's whims.  It was mostly because I was having such a nice time not knitting with my family. Strange, I know.  Especially since we were floating around in a little boat fishing for five hours which normally would be ideal time for knitting.

First, we found our own private island and had a picnic. 

 No interest in knitting while Bit ran after the fiddler crabs

Next we found the perfect fishing spot.

You can see that it was a glorious day.

Matthew finally hooked something other than little sharks and it was BIG!

He was letting run a bit when I took the picture but there were times when he was fighting it that the rod was practically bent in half.  No knitting done for about an hour as he fought it.  Too much excitement.

Finally, the big one got away.  It was getting late and we were a ways out so we headed back. By the time we got home, cleaned the boat, made dinner and got Bit to bed, we were beat.  One glass of wine and one or two paragraphs of my book and I was out.  No knitting until tomorrow.

Just Another Day in Paradise

Someone pour me a strong one! Nothing major. Just another crazy day. Get Bit around for school, walk the dog, convince the bug guy to come to our place first because I forgot he was supposed to be there today, rush home from said dog walk, clear off enough floor space from returning from out trip right into a work week for him to spray, get said child to school, go open my store (do as much as I can before my mom relieves me), pick up Bit from school, get her some lunch, frantically look for her ballet stuff she hasn’t needed in two weeks, chauffeur her to ballet, find out I’m behind on all kinds of important mommy stuff, knit for 15 minutes and suddenly she’s out, get her home to a cold/rainy day and spend the next 4 1/2 hours reading, pretending, doing laundry, listening to “Mommy, look at this!” a billion times, not getting any knitting done on my mom’s 70th birthday present and no wine until 6:30. 


Tomorrow should be easier, I just work.

My Beautiful, Sweet, Wonderful Little Devil!

I'm just going to start this off with a picture...

I'm sure you recognize that as a mess of yarn attached to a work in progress, A Simple Baby Hat by Alison Williams.  In fact, I have to change that into this by next week when my friend is having her twin baby boys.

Luckily, I managed to finish one, but I believe it will take me longer to unravel this mess than it would to knit these boys and entire layette.  The point of this whole post is that I just can't understand why my 3 1/2 year old, who has been exposed to my knitting since before she was born and has always handled my yarn and projects with care (if she needed to move something), suddenly decides she wants to play kitty kitty with my WIP!

Oh, and she knew what she was doing.  She came in saying "Mommy, don't be mad at me".  She led me into the living room and it was strung out all over the place.  Actually, I almost laughed out loud, after all it is just a baby hat that I can redo in an afternoon, but I wanted to have the right balance of disappointment and despair in my eyes so she'd understand never to do that again.  I think it worked.  I went back in the kitchen to try to fix it and a few minutes later when she came in to ask for something, I looked up from the fuzzy, slippery pile of yarn and said I was just a little too busy to play Candyland at the moment.  She thought about it and said "Will Daddy be home soon?".