"Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either." ~ Elizabeth Zimmerman

5/8/08

Anemone piperi Britton ex Rydb.

Such a huge name for such a tiny flower. Blooming on the hill in the back yard.





I love the way the stamens are shadowed on the petal in this shot. (Click on photo to enlarge)



I can't believe how fast the environment has changed in just the last 2 days. Everything is green! Leaves are starting to peak out from their buds on the trees, and the lawn is gorgeous. My eyes are doin' the happy dance.

Had a great time at Knit Wits, though there weren't very many people there. The toys were a huge hit. I am amazed at how amazed they are at my knitting prowess. They were just all agog that I would knit baby socks, with fingering sock yarn, on size 2 needles! I must have the patience of a saint, I was told, to take the time to knit with such tiny needles. How can I stand to knit on one project for so long? It only took me, what, 2 hours at most to make those socks?

There is one member who will not knit on anything smaller than a size 9 needle. She makes the most beautiful shrugs and afghans. They have way more stitches and rows than my socks. But she still sees socks as a huge time investment. She thinks I'm crazy. "I don't have the patience for that." Excuse me?

I was wearing my purple Monkey Socks, and they just couldn't believe that I knit adult size socks! I tried to explain it doesn't take long to make a pair of socks. Even going so far as to describe number of stitches in a row, and that most socks don't take more than maybe 200 rows. It really bothers me that there's a perception amongst knitters that if the needles are small, the project must take practically a life time to make and is to be feared. Where does this fear come from? Why are so many knitters afraid of knitting?

Well, the sun is shining out side. I think I'll take my yarn, needles, and a cup of coffee out to the deck for a bit and collect some vitamin D.

Have a great day.

3 comments:

  1. Hmmm... Interesting observation. I seem to be somewhere in the middle.
    I *do* take a long time to knit socks (maybe not a lifetime though ;^]), and yet, I'm most certainly not afraid of it. In fact I love knitting socks!
    With the time available to me to knit it would take me a couple of weeks to complete a pair. But I also know that my fingers will get tired or my eyes get blurry... so I have a couple other (larger or simpler) projects to switch with. In the end that means it takes me a month.
    Still... I have a pair of socks at the end of the month, and it was totally worth it!

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  2. Interesting post. Beautiful Amemone pictures. Isn't a good camera just magic? I can "see" better with my camera than I can with my naked eye.

    Isn't spring amazing? It's like when the Wizzard of Oz movie turns into color. It's because of the seemingly endless winter that we can appreciate the beauty and joy of GREEN!

    What amazes me are the recommended needle sizes on skeins of yarn. Usually if I use a needle size one smaller than the smallest recommended I get a fabric I like that doesn't stretch all out of shape and bag like crazy. I really don't think I knit that loose, but maybe.

    The larger size needles, 9 and up, hurt my hands after a few hours of knitting. I prefer the 3 to 6 range for sweaters.

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  3. I really like knitting with tiny needles. There is something about the fine fabric it produces, I just love it. I am currently trying my hand at miniature knitting, I believe it is 1/12th scale and I am using size 1.25mm/0000 needles. Talk about tiny! It is a bit tougher than I thought, you have to look very closely at what you are doing! :)

    I really like your iggies, I have one too,(that is how I found your blog) his name is Ziggy. I don't know how yours can stand it in such a cold environment, we are in Houston and mine stayed buried all winter!

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