She's Not Very Good

Well! I went to visit my parents my days off. Nice trip. Had to leave Bug at home because of his back. He didn't feel like a 4 hour car ride one way. I took my knitting, of course. My mother looked at the yellow scarf and told me I needed lessons. I am far too stupid to profit from lessons. And I am a crappy knitter. I realize this! I only do it to keep from smoking. Later on I over heard my mom on the phone telling my aunt I was knitting a scarf and adding, "She's not very good."
I'm nearly 45 years old. It matters what my mom thinks? Not really. And I am surrounded by people who can crochet and knit beautifully. My sister is a real artist when it comes to any kind of hand-craft.
My first reaction was to take all my yarn and throw it out, or box it up and forget it. But...I'm not doing this for any reason but to get over cigarettes. So it doesn't matter that I suck. I just have to keep doing it. So I picked up my needles and went on.

Home Sick

I am dreadfully ill. I have a terrible intestinal plague and can't do more than lay around on the couch. I took pictures of the first ball of yarn I got in the "How to Knit" kit...the yarn is double stranded, complicated, varigated and incredibly hard to work with. No way should someone who doesn't know how to knit should try it. Especially with standard size needles. No wonder my initial attempts at knitting were so frickin' lame. I might try something with it using large needles later, when I feel like a human.

More weather....

The sound of distant thunder is vaguely ominous. There's snow predicted this weekend as well, though the warning has dwindled from 3-12 inches to an inch of slush. Good! I hate slush but not as much as snow in almost April.
I am working on a yellow scarf but after that I think I shall do something grand and dramatic, like follow a pattern a friend gave me for a cap. I am not much of a pattern follower. I didn't learn how to use a pattern in sewing until I was in my 40's. So this will be a learning experience. I have checked out how to follow a knitting pattern and I am feeling a little braver about it.
Why I love knitting reason #1- it's portable. I can take my knittin' sack with me wherever I go. I can knit in waiting rooms and long car trips. My knitting sack is a pretty pink floral quilted bag I got for 8 bucks at the drug store, it has numerous inner pockets to organize things and keep my car keys from catching on my thread. It's a great tool for my budding hobby.

Stormy Day

I wish I didn't have to work today, simply because it's thundering and dark and getting ready to rain..perfect knitting weather. I am working on a scarf- I have made several long, rectangular objects, scarves, little knit cases for my iPod, a 'baby' blanket in the stockinette stitch that immediately became a dog blanket because it sucked so very much. But I'm making a little progress. I hope someday to be able to make something really amazing!

Experimenting

I learned knitting with a booklet that came with a ball of yarn and two standard size needles, which is probably why I never learned to purl until years later. Unfortunately I know no one else who knits, so when the instructions in another book read "go watch a friend who knits" there wasn't much I could do. This time around I had the internet and found all kinds of priceless resources. I am venturing into unexplored territory now, figuring out what I'm capable of. Not much, seems like at this point. My goal is to be able to execute patterns in multiple colors, like Fair Isle (sp?) knitting. So far I have been able to make a stripe pattern. Yay.

Knitting and Training

In addition to smoking cessation (enough to make me murderous and bitchy) we have a new puppy. She is named Chloe and she is adorable, and we are too freaking old to train a baby dog. She is smart and I think in time she'll be a good dog but we got her from her mama too young. She's nearly 7 weeks old, we got her two weeks ago. That's just to little to be away from mom but her mother was overstressed with 11 puppies and we didn't know how disastrous no socialization with her littermates was going to be. She is getting to know our current 5 animals- 3 dogs, 3 cats. We're living in a zoo here. My youngest female cat (Thelma Lou) kind of finds her fascinating and Chloe is just dying to play with her. They are chasing each other around, Thelma disappears like greased lightning and then sneaks back up to lure Chloe into another race. Otis, Thelma's brother (Otis Campbell the Town Drunk) is not as enamoured with the puppy. And he's really big so puppy just nods respectfully and runs off. The elder-cat, Ember..eh, that's another can of worms. She's nearly 20, she's never been around anything but our dogs and she's sort of ok with Chloe. There's some hissing and batting but generally contentment if Chloe's not leaping too much. My dogs, Blackie and Dandy, are no puppy fans. They think she's a big baby.

Quitting and Starting

I started knitting because I quit smoking. I have to have something to do with my hands and I am delighted that knitting has proven to be such an effective substitute. I knit when I drink my morning coffee, in the car, on breaks at work, all the time. I carry my "knittin' sack" with me at all times, ready to knit at the drop of a needle. It's saved my sanity, if not my life, and I enjoy creating something practical and useful even if it's just a scarf or a carrier for my iPod. I love to knit.