The Tart Knits

I learned to knit as a teenager (my grandmother showed me when I was younger, but I wasn't so interested then). As a teenager I knitted mittens (as liners for my choppers) and a baby blanket. That was the extent of my knitting adventures for a while. Then, in my late 20's I was working at a bead/yarn store and traded out all the money I made for beads and yarn. I was mostly into off-loom bead weaving, but I did knit a sweater for one of my children (two of them were in utero while I did it). After the birth of twins and 23 months later, my last child, I had no time to knit (or do anything else).

This past Christmas I bought my five year old daughter a knitting kit. After showing her how to knit - her first project is a scarf for her stuffed animals - I felt the yarn calling to me. I have been out of control ever since. I've mde hats, scarves, felted cat beds and pillows, made an intarsia bag for my daugher, and am excitedly awaiting the arrival of my sweater yarn in the mail.

I am obsessed with the knit. I KIP at soccer games, before plays, in various health professional's waiting rooms, and anywhere I can manage it. I am obsessed with the texture of yarn. I must fondle and sniff almost every yarn I pass. I am always out for a good deal, but unfortuantely, don't really balk at the site of expensive yarn, either. I am obsessed with books about yarn and knitting, I have four new knitting books and three more on the way.

Knitting has been better than meditation for me. I have a very difficult time stopping my ever-looping-inner-mind-chatter and when I knit I can worry/obsess about whatever is on my mind, but only to a certain extent. If I get too wrapped up in my thoughts I mess up the pattern and that need for focus seems to be a good balance for me. I can also engage in my other obsession - listening to Steve Earle - while I do it. How perfect is that?