Tuesday, December 20, 2011

K1 P1

I have tried 3 times to learn how to crochet.  I simply can't do it.  I can't keep a constant tension and find my projects getting smaller and smaller as my stitches get tighter and tighter.

Knitting, however, is another story.

Elizabeth Vahey showed me how to knit just once and it stuck.  Video tutorials for special stitches are the same; I view them once and know it.

Knitting just makes sense.

When I first started knitting, I hated it.  Projects take for-ev-er!  My first project was a leg warmer (yes a leg warmer.  I haven't made one to match it yet.)  It took me several days to complete and when I was done, I wasn't sure if I would knit anything again.  My other crafting endeavors are typically start-and-finish projects.  Would you like a custom fit hemp necklace?  Watch this movie and I'll be finished when it's over.  A fancy scrapbook page you can frame?  Give me 45 minutes.  A purse?  I'll have it to you tomorrow.  A knitted scarf?  Give me a few WEEKS.  I'll be halfway through a project and start thinking about 3 other projects I'd like to do, with no end in sight.  Frustrating.

*Disclaimer* I know someone who crochets and can make a hat in an hour.  It takes me MUCH longer.  I don't know why it takes me so much time, but the simple fact is it does.

But knitting has grown on me.  I can knit while watching movies I've never seen before, something I can't do with my other craft mediums.  I can take knitting with me in the car on long road trips.  It's easy to bust out my needles at a coffee shop.  It provides me with time to think about the person I'm knitting for; each stitch is a prayer just for them.  Knitting, for me anyway, really is a labor of love.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Inspiration Strikes!

I have a tendency to see a great idea and think, "I want to do something like that!"  Ideas that surprise people and provide them with a story particularly inspire me.  Like this one...

Here's a old city bus that someone transformed into a public library.  How clever!



Don't you want to visit this place?  I want to browse the "shelves" and find something unique.  I want to sip on my mocha as a I read from the bus seat and observe those who come and go, those who choose to take a peek inside this refurbished, re-purposed, rejuvenated nook and those who choose to pass on the experience.  I want to be apart of this small grand idea.

What ideas have inspired you lately?

(For another bus story, check this out.)