10 knitterly things you don't know about me

Yeah, I'm still here. Summer got busy. Fall got busier. Right now, things are careening along at a roller coaster pace on all fronts, and it's just insane. But Grumperina's little meme made me pause and hit up the blog again.

1. I come by knitting genetically. I apparently am descended from a long line of knitters, and it was just assumed that I would learn how to knit. My mom was a knitter, and I still have a box of handknit kid sweaters to show for it. They're being worn by the second generation now, and even though some are a little cheesy and dated, they're still in circulation. I remember my Grammy teaching me to knit when I was six, but I had to learn again when I was nine in order for it to stick. Red Heart sport weight red yarn, aluminum needles. My mom and Grammy both knit English style, and that's how I learned, but apparently my great-Grammy was a lightning-fast continental/German knitter.

2. I have no beef with crochet. It's useful, and you can make some nice stuff that way. (However, the knitting needle to crochet hook ratio in my house does seem to imply that knitting is the main gig here.) In high school, I used to make those snowflakes and little angels out of that white thread and starch them for Christmas ornaments. I was not all that wild and exciting in high school. Imagine Hermione Granger, and you've just about got it.

3. I knit socks in meetings. Even sometimes in important meetings with people in the state education department. Better yet, they think it's really cool.

4. I can only really knit after all the kids are in bed. It's not really safe to have a handful of double-pointed needles when there are two-year-olds launching themselves at you. If it takes a while to get all the kids down, then this will severely cut into the knitting portion of the evening.

5. I am lame enough to have different projects that I can work on in different situations. Dark observation room? Plain sock. Carpool line? Sock, but it can have some patterns since I can pay more attention. Watching Lost? Plain sock, or sweater sleeve, but I'll probably have to frog and re-do. Lace? Only when nothing else is going on.

6. I used to be a very in-the-box knitter (e.g., pattern follower), but spinning has completely rocked my fiber world. Now I improvise and change things like mad when they don't suit me. The same thing has happened with my cooking over the years, too. I think it's just a result of experience.

7. I dream of designing lace someday. I don't think it's a matter of not being able to do it, but rather a function of not having the luxury of enough time to sit down and think about it.

8. Despite the fact that kids are small, I haven't knit a thing for my youngest two guys, and my oldest guy has only gotten two pairs of socks (which probably now fit the youngest guys). I need to get on with that, but they sure grow fast, and I have to aim up a few sizes to make sure I'll finish it while it would still fit.

9. I will not be torn with anguish if none of my kids grows up to be a knitter, but I will give them the opportunity to learn.

10. It's knitting-related, anyway... I do not own a sewing machine, nor do I have the slightest clue how to use one. My mom had one, and let me wind a bobbin of thread on it once. It promptly exploded all over the room, and I don't think there were ever any sewing lessons after that. So any time the instructions call for machine sewing to reinforce a steek, or to install a zipper, I end up doing it by hand. (because I'm chicken.)

More later, and maybe even pictures of some of the stuff I made this summer...