Begin at the Beginning
My blogging and knitting began almost hand in hand, blogging only about a month behind the knitting itself. Over three years on and the two hobbies are so bound together. I find it hard to imagine knitting without blogging about it, an FO is not quite an FO until it's been blogged and though my blog posts meander about my life they're normally following the path that knitting makes in it. It's so interesting for me to have this record and I often get distracted by old posts I've written and love to see how I've gone in different directions than I would first have envisaged - socks for example were not something I'd have thought I would ever want to knit and yet now there is always a pair on the needles.
Knits have so much of the knitter tied up in them. I seldom wear this - my first scarf - the traditional beginner garter stitch number, but it has pride of place on the coat rack and I don't think I'll ever let this go. It's also part of my blog header along with other early knits, little parts of my life knit into each. The two main motivators to learn to knit were the lack of an outlet for creativity in my life and the ME which I've talked about much more in recent times. Knitting was something creative that I could do when there wasn't energy for much else. Like so many people my work has little tangible product to show for the hours of input, it's good to redress the balance and make things in my spare time.
The healing benefits of handwork are something I've since read a lot about and for me its been such a big part of keeping together and happy. I never dreamed of how it would inspire me. As I'm understanding more about the chronic stress that is such a part of ME I can use my knitting more mindfully to help with my healing. I like to think that the choice to learn to knit owed something to listening to the instincts of what my body needed. I feel like I should end this post with a campaign slogan like 'Learn to Knit - it's good for you!'. I think all the electioneering must be getting to me ;o)
knitcroblo1
Comments
And there is something about knitting that just works for those extremely tired days - it can be almost mindless yet soothing! I am interested in lots of crafts and have dabbled in painting and collage but knitting is so much easier - limited tools, no mess, and I can still be sociable if necessary!
I second it, "Learn to knit - it's good for you!"
I never dreamed where knitting and blogging would take me - both in terms of my knitting development but also my friendships and the impact on my life. It's been fantastic.
I love the colours in the picture of your first scarf btw- very cheery :D
And the healing. Yes. I could go on and on about the importance of knitting (and blogging) through my own difficulties in recent years. I am still sane, through it all, because I've had such a strong creative outlet. So hang on to that - I celebrate your link between healing and creativity!
Congrats on 3 years of both!
BTW, have you ever heard of Blurb? It's a way to upload your blog, and have it printed into a book. Sounds interesting! :o)
That was beautiful :D I do agree with you that knitting (and cats!) has such a healing power... even when you don't finish (LOL!). I have made many good friends through blogging and knitting (incl you! :D ).
x
Kyoko
I'm sorry I missed this project...I think it would have been fun to blog about these topics in a week! Looking forward to reading more from you here shortly!