Knitting

I've decided I'm somewhat of an odd knitter. I like simple things to do while watching a movie, but acres of garter stitch or 1x1 ribbing ennui kills me. I try to pick projects that will teach me new things, but I'm not willing to knit something that has no practical function just to knit it. It doesn't often get cold enough here to warrant knitted hats or mittens, and when it IS cold enough, it's also wet.

I haven't tried socks yet, but feel that in general, they wouldn't be the best use of my time & yarn money, since you can buy perfectly nice smartwools for the same price and not have to struggle against ladders or figure out how to turn the heel (and when I've got a ton of other things I want to make, socks seem like they'd just be holding up projects for which I'm more excited). I don't have much need for scarves, already owning a nice goes-with-everything-and-looks-classy-too charcoal ribbed one that was a gift purchased at a Florentine market. Similarly, I'd never wear lacy shawls. Yeah, maybe everybody and their dog loves the Clapotis, but what the heck would I do with it?

A lot of what I have knit so far is gifts, which can be tricky. R doesn't wear knitted goods beyond the occasional beanie, and I've already made scarves/hats for basically everyone in my immediate family (plus a few close friends who I know would appreciate the gift AND respect the amount of time that went in to making it).

That's one problem with knitting (and other arts & crafts)- non-knitters have no idea how much work can actually go into a gift. People tend to assess the value of many knitted objects at $10-30 because they can buy them for that at any store (machine mass-produced in China with crap yarn). Thus the perceived value is much lower than the actual worth, especially when made with high-quality materials. The scarf I knit for the fundraiser auction got exactly 2 bids- the winner being my mother, taking pity on me and buying the scarf herself for just over the price of the yarn. If I calculate how many hours I spent knitting ($8/hr), the final cost of a simple striped wool & silk scarf would be well over $100, probably over $200. But of course nobody would pay that. People don't value hand-crafted goods at anywhere near their actual worth. I just hope the people for whom I spend weeks knitting gifts actually like and use the things I create, and don't just throw them in a closet. I know Eli & WeEli love & wear their gifts because they tell me so, and I love them for it and knit more for them.

Sometimes I wish I could just fast forward through projects in order to be able to knit other things. My latest sweater was both fun and fast. Right now I'm toiling on a blanket for my brother's baby. I have decided blankets are evil, though I will knit one for my Mom, since that's what she really wants. I made sure to find an interesting and pretty pattern and will seek out nice yarn for it though; not the BOOOORING garter-stitch and horrid fuzzy acrylic Sisyphean labor I'm currently only halfway through.

Basically, I want to knit myself a zillion sweaters- hoodies, cardigans, pullovers, turtlenecks- and some skirts. I want to get to the point where I can make up my own patterns- one thing I do love about knitting is that (if you know how) you can alter the pattern to suit yourself. I dislike that in most patterns, the smallest size is typically a few inches too big and I have to do weird maths to figure out how to make it fit. Sometimes it's as easy as picking a slightly thinner yarn, but it can get complicated.

As in everything I do, I am cheap, and feel that spending more than $50 for a sweater is ridiculous. I wouldn't buy one in the store for that much (unless it was cashmere, and even then still probably not); and yes, the knitting (unless it's a boring or frustrating pattern) will bring relaxation and pleasure, but spending $150 on yarn is insane. I hate that the yarn companies give fancy yarns to the designers, because then I have to spend a lot of time figuring out a cheaper alternative. And while I appreciate a nice, inexpensive skein, I don't want to buy cheap & crappy yarn (this baby blanket makes me want to forever avoid pure synthetics). Besides, natural fibers are better for the planet and typically feel nicer as well. Finding the right yarn (at the right price) seems to be an addiction, a compulsion. Most knitters seem to think you can never have enough yarn, to the dismay of the people who share their living spaces!

I'd love to learn to spin, turning a bag of animal hairs into a usable garment is an amazing skill and art. If I got good, I could make exactly the yarns I needed in exactly the color I wanted. I could even use my pets' fur, making use of a soft & pretty-colored fiber that would otherwise be thrown away! It will take years to learn, and even more years to become proficient, but I did put a homemade drop spindle and dye pot on my Christmas list (along with tons of yarn). Maybe someday you can read this blog and see a picture of me in a sweater I made from scratch- how cool would that be?