Only 1000 more yards to go, Yarn. Only 1000 more to go. . .
----Kimberly
I recently finished spinning about 800+ yards of soft, squishy, beautiful silvery-grey Shetland wool. It's waiting patiently to become an aran style sweater from Lisa Lloyd's A Fine Fleece. I haven't decided which one yet. Since I will be knitting that whole book this year (don't laugh - I mean it), that doesn't matter so much. Only 1000 more yards to go, Yarn. Only 1000 more to go. . . ----Kimberly
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We had a very nice, mellow Christmas season here in Knit Country. My oldest boy was home for the holidays from Tennessee. That's him in the background, behind my husband. (I think his PhD studies might be getting to him...) I did do a little holiday knitting, but nothing too strenuous. Just some fingerless mitts for my daughter (see first picture). They are literally just tubes with holes for her thumbs. I plan on doing some cute ones eventually, but she loves these as is. (rainbow colors = Blue Moon Fiber Arts OFFF colorway sock yarn, and the blue/ green pair = Tess Yarns silk and merino sock yarn) Oh. . .I also made some socks for my husband. (It's such a vanilla pattern that I haven't written it up, but I can if anyone wants it - toe up using Judy's magic cast on and a 2 x 2 rib with short row heel. 68 stitches on US size 2 needles, 12 stitches for the toe cast on, 10 for the short row heel cap. The yarn is Hazel Knits sock yarn--I think. I lost the tag. It could be Periwinkle Sheep sock yarn. I have some of both. I highly recommend both. I do remember the colorway was "suits.") On New Year's Day, I learned how to use Instagram, whipped up a few washcloths, and played around with quilting. . . In my pajamas. . .All day long. I even had a glass of wine with dinner. . .In my pajamas. It was glorious. No major resolutions here. Just. . .live with intention and joy.
Happy New Year to you all! May 2014 bring you joy too. Respectfully, Kimberly Wow. What a week!! I have to admit that I am very, very tired. I'm in the middle of obtaining TESOL/ ELL certification to add to my teaching license and I just had to go and opt for the intensive course (lol). Three more weeks to go. Needless to say, the knitting time has been severely cut into by required reading, unit planning and classroom observations. I'm looking forward to being done. That said, I would do it again. The course is fantastically run by Seattle TESL School in association with Seattle Pacific University. Not only will I add an endorsement to my teaching license, but I will cross that credit accrual line that will bump me up a teacher pay grade (which isn't saying much, but even a little bit is nice). But enough about teachery stuff! That isn't what this blog is about!! Nope. So let's check out some knitting and other fibery goodness. Check this out. It's a queen sized, handspun, hand dyed, handwoven bed cover. It's also 100 years old. Can you believe it?? Absolutely gorgeous. Natural dyes, too. Made in Norway. Last weekend (my last weekend of freedom before I started my class) I participated in a spinning demo with my friends Tammy and Sam at the Sons of Norway Lodge in Everett. Lovely people. Lovely weekend. I found so many things that reminded me of my childhood in the artifacts people brought in for display. This item didn't remind me of anything in particular from MY childhood, but oh my goodness! What a testament to craftsmanship. Such a simple item really, in that it's purpose was to supply warmth (it was VERY thick and heavy), yet it was obvious that there was a great deal of attention to detail and care in its making. It got me thinking. . . Will anything I make last like this? I feel so motivated now to make SURE that the items I produce are well done. I did before too, but now. . . wow. I wish you could have seen it for yourselves. I know that I'll be paying much closer attention to what's actually happening on my needles and during finishing. So what IS on my needles right now? Well. . . a vanilla sock, of course, and a sock scrap blanket. You could probably see it better if Cider wasn't sitting on it. She's so cute, it's hard to argue with her when she wants to cuddle. I hadn't knit socks for a long time, but when I discovered (recently) exactly how much sock yarn I have stashed, the time seemed right to whip up a few pairs. Now, I need more sock yarn scraps for the blanket, too. Hmmmm. . .this seems a bit cyclic. . . . I've also got a Geology Shawl by Very Busy Monkey on the needles. This was started as part of a knit along with some local friends. I'm hoping to catch up on it over the Thanksgiving weekend. Lovely pattern although the formatting felt a bit awkward to navigate at first. I think it could have been formatted differently maybe, but overall, it's a very well done pattern. That's it for right now. Just enough to have choices but not enough to feel overwhelmed with unfinished projects. When I do finally get the chance to sit down and catch up, I will deeply enjoy it. And this brings me to the (somewhat painful) question of the day. . . . What's up with all the people talking about Selfish Knitting Month? I couldn't believe it when I first heard this phrase. Really? Why? Do we feel so guilty about taking time to do things we enjoy now that we have to call ourselves selfish when we do finally take time? Seriously, I'm a bit flabbergasted by the whole concept. To be fair, I understand the idea behind selfish knitting month. The idea is to take the month of January and make your knitting about you after spending all that time knitting for others during the holiday season. Okay. I get it. But I don't see that as selfish. While it may just be a semantics game in the long run, I can't help but wonder if We Who Knit for Other People (yes, this includes me) aren't suffering from just a bit of martyrdom complex? I would really like to see this term go away, and here is why: it may seem harmless and funny, but I do think it feeds into the current American cultural mindset that anything we do for ourselves makes us unworthy, or self centered. Yet when others don't seem to appreciate the things that have been made for them, the effort put into creating a handmade gift all of a sudden seems so wasted that the knitter gets his/ her feelings hurt. It does not have to be this way Knit Country Friends! There are a few things I think we should all keep in mind: 1) A gift is just that. A gift. Once you give it, let it go. You blessed the recipient with the time you spent thinking about them during the creating of the object. You blessed yourself by spending time in a creative activity. Research shows that helps protect the brain from degenerating during old age. The knitted thing is just that. . . a thing. So let it go. Knitted objects have absolutely nothing to do with how much someone loves and appreciates you. 2) If you are knitting for others because you feel obligated to.. .stop it. You aren't. Everyone will survive if you stop knitting for them. The stress isn't worth it. Artificial obligations and deadlines kill joy. Keep the joy. Ditch the fake obligation. 3) Engaging in something you enjoy is not selfish. It's rejuvenating. When you take care of yourself, you can take care of others better. It isn't selfish. It's self care. Now, if your hobby is causing you to pay bills late or go without clean laundry, that's a different story. But that's also a different problem. I have absolutely no guilt when I knit for myself. I also have no guilt for having a stash of supplies or for claiming space in the house for those supplies and my creative work. For what I like to do, it's reasonable. I hope you will embrace the joy of knitting for yourself whenever you damn well want to, and not feel guilty or selfish anymore!! Having said that, it is time for me to crawl off my soap box and head off to my workroom for a little rejuviknitting before bed. May you all have a happy holiday weekend! Respectfully submitted, Kimberly P.S. - I would LOVE to see pictures of other people's work spaces/ storage. My space used to be a box. It feels so luxurious to have an actual room now. I'm looking for decorating/ storage efficiency ideas. Last week I was very fortunate to pick up and take my Knit Country on a retreat in the gorgeous San Juan Islands. To get to this remote destination, one must take a scenic ferry ride through the archipelago to the Friday Harbor destination. Friday Harbor is a quaint town featuring gathering places for the traveler including some of my favorites: Island Wools, the Coffee Bean, and Pelindaba, a delectable lavender store. The retreat was sponsored by Sivia Harding, and was called the "Joy of Knitting Retreat". Need I say more? Sivia Is a premier knit designer, best known for her designs incorporating lace and beads. Sivia taught us four of her designs suitable for gift giving this holiday season. I was able to complete two and make lots of progress on the other two.
In between the moments spent knitting, learning about knitting, talking about knitting, and shopping for knitting supplies, the retreat go-ers were able to enjoy the beauty of the island. The best part about the retreat? The 20 kindred spirits who will hopefully become lifelong friends. Where is your Knit Country?
- Jen Autumn inspires me to knit. I want to capture its color in my hands. I'm not a dyer or designer, but that doesn't mean anything as far as inspiration goes. A simple vanilla sock can be just as fulfilling and meet my creative and spirit needs as designing my own project from scratch. So here are my autumn inspiration socks. Just plain stockinette knitting with a short row heel. Their color makes me happy. The yarn fills my need to capture the vivid colors of autumn and put them somewhere close to me. Project details: Yarn: Apple Laine Apple Pie in Arizona Purchased from: Gift from Jen years ago----deep stash dive Pattern: My own - refer to Chrissy Gardner's Toe- Up! for techniques. Size - Women's mediumish. Time to complete - About three days of sporadic knitting We would love to hear what inspires YOU! Leave a comment!
Welcome to Knit Country! Jen and I are two friends who really enjoy knitting. Well--pretty much all things that have to do with fiber and textiles, but we'll start with knitting for now. We belong (ed) to a wonderful online Yahoo community started by another beloved friend, Sam. As social media has evolved, so has the way the online community communicates with each other leaving message board formats behind in favor of interfaces that support photos, automatic linking, video, audio, etc. In other words: shiny, pretty, easy, quick, and app supported. I'll bet you can imagine what has happened to our little message board over time with all this technological evolution.
Facebook, group blogs, artistic venues such as Ravelry and MySpace, and podcasting have revolutionized the meanings of community and audience in ways that are meaningful and fantastic! We use and enjoy them all. It seems, though, that the closeness we developed with our community on FT, is not as naturally mimicked through these other forms of social media. We miss that. We started wondering how/ where we could develop a platform that could bring back some of that friendliness, be interesting, and make use of the shiny, pretty, app supported technology available. All in one place. One night, over coffee and knitting (of course) we decided that maybe it was time to experiment with some of these venues. Put it out there and see what happens. Knit Country is the "baby" born from that idea. Let's be clear. . .this idea is new and evolving. Things will change as we go along. We have to start somewhere and at some point in time, so here it is in its infancy. We are starting with the blog, but plan on adding a video podcast in very early 2014. The goal is that we will not only be able to share what we are working on, what we enjoy stashing, using, and lusting after, but also include YOU in a very real, visible and unique way. There will be more on that in the future, but DO WATCH for questions looking for responses, and invitations to contribute (yep, warm up those camcorders and update your phone apps people). Fortunately for our FT group, many of us have been able to meet in person, and most of us continue to be genuine life friends. I know that I cannot think of a nicer group of men and women to be around. Over time, we have gone from sharing knitting, to sharing family and all the life events that go along with being human. The best part, is that the circle keeps growing. Soooo. . . . Welcome! We hope you will be a frequent visitor to Knit Country. You don't have to be a knitter. Heck, you don't even have to do anything with fiber at all! Maybe you appreciate a knitter (or a spinner, tatter, crocheter, weaver, felter, etc) in your life. Doesn't matter. Everyone is welcome. Respectfully posted by, Kimberly |
About the AuthorKimberly is a longtime knitter, spinner, sewist, and generally crafty person. She resides in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, where sweaters are a good thing year round, knitting in public is normal and handknit socks with sandals are considered (almost) fashionable. Archives
July 2015
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