Knitting hats and UFOs

I have been knitting up a storm and really cranking out the hats. I've found an earflap hat that I love. I've made 7 of them from Wool-ease with several variations. I'll try to get some photos up soon. It seems like I can't get either of my counters to the end. I keep adding hats to my hat counter and finding new UFOs to add to that counter also. I found a ripple afghan in the attic that I am turning into a Christmas present. I always liked it, but I made it for a friend and before I could get it finished, they moved and had a completely different color scheme. The new recipient has just bought a new house with lots of space to fill up, so this is perfect...a gift I love for people I love.

The earflap hats are going well and they have a lot of space to do colorwork on them, so I just keep adding recipiants that I think will like them. I figure I have about 4 more of the earflap kind and a couple of Aran type that I have been wanting to make for ages. I'm making a hat and boa out of some eyelash yarn for my 4 year old grandneice, and I am hoping I get used to using that yarn. So far, it hasn't been all that great, but my sister assures me that it gets easier. For the little grandnephews, I want to make these balaclavas. Then I have a vest to make (It's half done), 3 crochet bags (1 finished today), some ipod carriers...one looks like a hoodie and is so cute! There's a Star Wars hat and sweater that isn't even started and 2 children's Arans and 1 Gansey half done. I think I am going to have to learn to knit while I sleep! Thank goodness some of these are UFOs and are already well on their way. Pictures will be posted and a new list made.

New Knitters

Monday at Kofe Haus, I taught two young people how to knit. That makes 4 this month. These 2, one male one female, are recent college graduates who can't find jobs, so are going on to graduate school. Like many, they would like to earn a little money before starting grad school, but since they can't, they are trying to make good use of their time.

It is so rewarding to me to introduce people to this wonderful ancient craft. I can't help but think of all the rewards knitting holds for them. I picture them going into yarn stores and feeling the rich texture of the yarns, picking out projects, knitting for others and knitting for charity, which just happens to be why one of these young people wants to learn. I also think of the wonderful stress releaser knitting is and how it can see them through a world of troubles. Now there is a Harvard study that says what we knitters have always known.

Maybe this won't happen for them, but it's a start. Most of us who have knitted for any length of time bless the person, or people, who taught us to knit. We recognize the importance it has in our lives. We know of the enjoyment of knitting with friends and relatives, of knitting when our hearts are broken and knitting at night waiting for a loved one to come home. We enjoy the felowship we have with other knitters and love the variety of people we knit with. We love making something special for someone we love and making something special for a person we will never know. When we see trouble and tragedy in the world and want to help we know that there is some organization that will help us reach out to others with our knitting...or we can start one. I know that we could go to Walmart and buy hats, mittens or blankets for the homeless, but it says so much more when the gift is from the hands and heart of someone who cares and took the time to invest in a stranger. We could purchase soft hats for people in chemotherapy, but how much better it is to send a soft hat in beautiful yarn or an intricate pattern.

And if these kids get wrapped up in grad school and jobs and they put aside their knitting, they can be like so many who learned once and only need a few minutes lessons to pick it back up and let knitting work its magic in their lives.

Kofe Haus Meeting

There were 3 of us at the Kofe Haus meet-up this morning and as different as we are, we found lots of things in common. We have a retired teacher and librarian, an archeaologist waiting to get into grad school and a writer and mother of two; two female, one male. I think that is what I like about knitting meetings. They bring together such a wide variety of people who start out only having a love of knitting in common, but we grow by interacting.

I also love the "knitting in public" movement. People stop by and chat about knitting and I am amazed at the people who say that they always wanted to learn. Some say they'll do it when they retire and others take up the hobby because they need an island of calm in the midst of a chaotic life. My mom says that she thinks better with her knitting needles and I find that to be true for myself also. Knitting calms me and grounds me. How often do you see and adult just sit down in a chair and think? We always need to be doing something and so often the thing that we are doing takes up too much of our attention to really think. Not so with knitting. I can sit in a chair and just knit and as I do, bits and pieces of my life seem to sort themselves out.