Random Musings

If you've read my blog for any length of time, you'll know that I'm just a *tad* addicted to knitting.

(I can stop at any time. Really. I can. I just don't want to right now.)

Knitting helps me calm my nerves when I'm feeling twitchy and anxious and when I have to sit for any length of time; it helps me focus on conversations going on around me and dull the must-interrupt-with-long-involved-stories-about-me gene; the repetitive mantra of each stitch helps me achieve some sense of equilibrium in my day when the combination of life in general mixed with topsy-turvy toddlers makes me feel sea-sick; it helps me feel like I'm accomplishing something slowly but surely.

I think it's that latter part that keeps me the most in love with knitting. My "career" right now is mothering, and I think it will be another twenty, maybe thirty years before I will know if I've achieved any semblance of success in my field (right now I figure "success" is if they're all still alive at the end of the day).

When I knit, every stitch is a step forward. Every row is another marker that I have reached a goal, and when I finish something, it's like graduation minus the big poofy (*cough cough* dorky) gowns and cap. My knitting creates beautiful (well, usually beautiful) items that can cover someone I love with a warm hug when my hands aren't available because they're busy wiping snot off of someone else I love.

Knitting helps me connect with the oddest people.

Take Flipflopping Mama, for example. I knew her from MOPS several months before she became a friend, and it was thanks to knitting that we connected at all. Before I taught her to knit, I was just that "odd woman with the three kids who was always knitting". After I taught her to knit, I was still that "odd woman with the three kids who was always knitting", but it gave us something odd to do together. I don't think I'd ever have made friends with Lynn if not for knitting; not because I wouldn't have like her, but simply because I wouldn't have had the courage.

I'm a rather shy person, believe it or not, and making new friends can be difficult for me. When I knit, I can carry on a conversation without having to make eye-contact, and it gives me a ready-made topic to discuss.

Knitting gave us something in common, but also allowed each of us room to express our different personalities. Take these two projects, for example.
The red broomstick handles masquerading as knitting needles are Flipflopping Mama's, and the surgical implements are mine.

Totally different projects, both different, and both very much enjoyed.
- just like great friendships!