The new water pipes to the barn are frozen, the tractor is stuck in a muddy trench down by the fence, the school had a 2 hour delay which put me 2 hours behind today, and there's more mud on my boots and my floor and the dogs than there is in the yard.
Happy Friday!
I just realized this morning that I haven't posted a thing since before the holidays. I'll spare you all the details but let's just say it was an "interesting" "holiday break". Sheesh.
Anyway... I've been thinking about getting this new year started off on the right foot and trying to figure out what that really means to me. I'm not one for resolutions or huge plans that tank by March but I do always get some sort of small jolt to the system when I think about a whole new year.
This year I'd like to be more focused and maybe a bit more organized time-wise. I've never been good at time management and I think if I could get a handle on it so many other things would fall into place. I really thought I'd make good use of my time once the kids started public school this year but somehow I still manage to lose an entire day by puttering around the house with cleaning and phone calls and groceries and I don't know what else but somehow the whole day is gone before I realize it.
And about the knitting? I'll tell ya... if there's one thing I'd like to do this year it would be to get knitters to agree to disagree. Maybe that's not quite right. Maybe it should be encourage knitters to be okay with doing things this way and that way and not feeling stifled about what's right and what's wrong because its all good.
I'm the kind of crafter that wants to know how to do everything. Even if I try something new and I don't like it and I never do it again at least I tried it out and learned for myself. Maybe that's it... learn for yourself.
Steeks are good, top-down is good, bottom-up is good, knitting in pieces and seaming is good. I'm so sick of accidentally stumbling into heated discussions about the "right" way to do things. I've even stalled out and shelved some of my own designs because I worried myself to death about the construction method I chose or the finishing I decided on and I was just horrified to think about getting flogged because I designed an entire garment in pieces and it would need to be seamed together.
All I can say is that I love everything about knitting. I love weaving in ends and carrying color strands and I'll even carry those suckers on a purl row and seam it all together when I'm done. I also love knitting in the round but I don't really feel like one is "better" than the other. I think all knitting techniques have their place and their time and their use and their die hard fans. Me? I want to do it all. All the fiddling and fixing and ripping out and re-dos... I love it all. Button holes, button loops, button bands, zippers, toggles, snaps, and ties. Cables, colors, holes, and ribs. What's not to love?
The obligatory picture above is a look at a re-do I started over the "holiday break" Not only is it a re-do but also includes color stranding and a steek. Love. It. All.
So here's to another year of knitting (and sewing and smocking and quilting and embroidering and weaving)!
May it be filled with trial and error, focus and productivity, pockets and collars, and whatever else floats your boat!
