Sunday, March 07, 2010

things i've learned...

...while knitting:

~ knitting requires a project basket. it's not always easy to find the right project basket and you might have go to 4-5 different stores, including antique stores,  looking for one.

the perfect project basket (+ giant ball of finger knitting by sabin)

~ you cannot knit and read at the same time. at least not if you're me. note to self: acquire audio books.

~ it's a bit hard to keep all of the criminals straight if you're knitting while watching midsomer murders and seldom look up because of your need to concentrate on the knitting.

~ splitty yarn bites.

~ it does get easier the more you do.

~ changing colors is WAY easier than you think it will be.

~ one of the reasons my previous attempts at knitting failed was that i had no idea what i was making, now that i know what i'm making, it's much easier to keep going.

progress! and i've even changed colors.
...picking up my loom:

bits of loom
~ you shouldn't lose the phone number of the people you're buying the loom from, because they won't necessarily remember you when you show up at their door.

~ a disassembled loom is a rather overwhelming pile of sticks.

~ a pile of sticks can begin an adventure.

~ the windmill looks much better against a blue sky on a sunny day.

melby mølle

...from my child:

i am ever, eternally, in awe, of sabin's ability to jump fully into every moment. she never, ever waits or wants to wait for "the right time" to do things. if she wants to turn a cardboard box into an airplane/car for her bear, she just begins. she collects the things she needs as she goes along and as she thinks of them, but she jumps into the task from the very first moment. if she gets hungry along the way, she incorporates picnic supplies (cucumber, blueberries, tomatoes, a thermos), stowing them in the "trunk" of the car.

sabin's airplane/car - complete with a key and an ingenious seatbelt design

but she lets nothing stand in the way of imagination or of execution of the vision of the airplane/car that forms in her head - a boxed taped to the back to function as a trunk, yellow tape for the headlights, yarn and a matchbox as a seatbelt, a key of cardboard covered in black tape. i really wish i could be more like that. i get extremely held back in the "collecting the materials" stage of things and then it's sometimes very hard for me to begin the actual project.

the latest additions to the fabric stash

p.s. it's so cool that blogger has added captions to the photos. makes wordpress look even more like the internet explorer of the blogging world, and not just from a security standpoint, but from a lame, so yesterday kinda standpoint. go blogger!

8 comments:

Lisa-Marie said...

I like that you are analytical of what is going on when you do things, and of your developing skills.

Having learned alot about cognitive development, and the stages of it, It makes me happy to see evidence of it in an adult. often we just internalise things without really thinking about them. You have high level metacognition(which is my favourite word of all time)!

Also, Sabin is kind of my hero. She is already the kind of person I want to be!

I_am_Tulsa said...

it is wonderful how children are always "in the moment"! I adore your stash of fabric!!!

OneGirlCircus said...

I have to stay out of the yarn store that just opened in town because I walked through once and it started feeling like a new hobby and I don't need a single other thing to do!

Our fabric stashes look surprisingly similar...Lots of Anna Maria Horner :)

Sammi said...

... which is all fine when they let you upload photos (i discovered the reason it wouldn't upload mine all at once was because the collective size was too big, never mind)!

I totally get like that when starting a project, I tend to attempt NaNoWriMo in June and November, which means I have lots of notes for about 4 different novels all scattered around in a notebook, and character analysis everywhere but no story!!

I believe it does help to have a pattern to follow or at least an idea of what you're doing... when my aunt was trying to teach me to knit she said the hardest thing to knit was a square! Of course, I was very young then and I have no idea how to knit anymore!

Barb said...

I wish I could get my kids to be a little more like Sabin. They want things to be more realistic all the time. But when youngest couldn't find his grenade, I was able to get him to make one out of paper.
Love the fabric stash! And the knitting! Happy Sunday.

Char said...

looks like good lessons. and i want a cool airplane/car with a good lunch

mrs mediocrity said...

I do exactly the same, collect hobby supplies for someday when I have time, only I never have time...but I have lots of nice supplies. Knitting does get easier as you go, love your basket!

Suecae Sounds said...

I really like the colors found in the first image. Stunning!