Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Longing for needles

Man do I miss knitting. I haven't knit in a full week, which although it doesn't sound like a very long time, feels like an eternity. My boyfriend and I moved last weekend, and with all the box packing, car loads from one place to the next, unpacking and cleaning, there hasn't been much time left over for much else. Before we moved, I had the luxury of being a very short 1.8 miles away from work, so I was able to go home for my lunch breaks. Our new place is a bit further away (10 miles, maybe) which in a environmentally friendly way makes my lunch breaks at home a thing of the past. This week I have spent my lunch breaks going back to the old place, doing laundry (we don't yet have a washer and dryer in the new place) and doing small cleaning projects to make this weekend's cleaning frenzy a bit less tedious. This morning my longing to knit took over, and I packed up a bag with a project and some lunch and headed to work.

I'm working on a pair of wrist warmers. I'm making them in a beautiful burgandy color, and so far I just love them (well, one of them anyway, that's all I've started). This is my first project that involves scary things like thumb holes, so I had paused on it for a long time when I got close to doing something new and semi-frightening. Once I read through the directions a million times I gained a tiny ounce of confidence and went for it. It's just yarn right? I can always (heaven forbid) start over if I mess it up somehow. So the thumb is all tied off and waiting for me to finish the palm before I come back and tackle the strange and new directions. Should make for some good lunch time entertainment!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

...and away we go!

So at the (um, slightly constant?) urging of my friend Cassie, I have started a blog. Finally. I seem to be one of these slightly behind the curve people where the internet is concerned, but I come around eventually. I think I decided it would be fun to blog when I started reading Crazy Aunt Purl's blog. While extremely bored at work, I managed to read from the beginning to current (that's like 4 years of blogging!!) in just a few months, and it was interesting how the words of a total stranger actually inspired, motivated, and entertained me. I thought I might try my hand at it...not that I really expect that much inspiration or motivation will be oozing out of these posts, but hey! as long as we are having fun, it's all good.

To jump right into it, I'm a crafter. Have been for as long as I can remember. I've always loved making things I thought were pretty (whether or not anyone else agrees is always up for debate). I couldn't get enough crayons, markers, colored pencils or paints when I was a kid. Remember those big posters you could color in that had that black fuzzy stuff all over them? They were one of my favorite Christmas gifts as a kid. Loved them. Of course, it took a little finesse to not get all that black stuff on the marker tips, ruining them, while still coloring in all the way to the edge. I have gone through a few crafting obsessions: "quilting" (more on that later), scrapbooking, card making, stamping, jewelry making, painting, sewing, refinishing old windows, turning trash into treasure, etc, etc, and now knitting. I learned to knit about 6 years ago from a co-worker, and probably would have started the obsession then if it hadn't have been for the dauntingly large blankets I was making to get REALLY good at garter stitch. It got boring, and fast! Fast forward a few (ok, like 5) years, add a printer issue stalling my scrapbooking creativity, toss in some yarn talk from Cas, and the obsession with knitting was reborn, in a much better (and less tediously boring) way! Knitting has re-inspired the crafter in me!

I am, of course, more than just a craft-lover, so stick around, this is only the beginning!