8/29/2008

Artist I Adore

allisonstrine's shop on Etsy is the place that I go whenever I need a pick me up. I have 3 of her prints hanging above my computer in my craft room for inspiration. Recently I scored a great deal on a pendant of her work. When we were in the worst of freshman registration a few weeks ago I wore orange 3 days in a row so that I could wear this pendant. I would look down throughout the day to give me a smile. I don't know how you can be in a bad mood while wearing a Lady Bird. Here is my pendant:

8/28/2008

Why Knitting?

Knitting has become such a huge and important part of my life that it is hard to believe that I have only been doing it for around four years. It is now such a part of my identity that when I meet someone new they think I must have been born with knitting needles and a ball of variegated yarn in my hands. I thought I would take some time to explore how knitting and I became such important companions.

Around 6 years ago I was introduced to a most interesting and creative guy who would become my husband. Before this my life pretty much revolved around the university that I worked at and if I ever got bored I would just start working on another masters degree to keep me busy. My hands were kept active with an endless supply of Marlboro Lights and Mountain Dew. I really didn't have time or need for a hobby. Soon after meeting Mike I switched jobs to a much more low key community college, where I still work advising mostly nursing students, and was busily planning my wedding.

After this big adventure I spent about a year looking at home decorating magazines and going to flea markets and antique malls to fill my nest with treasures. After awhile I realized that I really needed something to do with my extra time. My husband is a man of many passions, including playing guitar in a band, writing science fiction, riding his bikes, and saving the world from Nazis and aliens on his computer games. So I went in search of something to do with my time and hands since I had given up my old best friends in nicotine form.

I tried cross stitch and crochet before being taught to knit from the women whom I had taken a crochet class with. From almost the first moment it just felt right. There was something so rhythmic and meditative yet it still required me to actively focus at times, just like studying had done for me in the past. I could be a little focused while doing something simple as a garter stitch scarf or if I wanted to be really engrossed I could work on something more difficult. And then there was the yarn. I absolutely love color and I could spend hours looking at the different combinations and transitions of color in the yarn. As lame as it sounds knitting with variegated yarn is endlessly fascinating to me as I wait to see whether blue or green will come up next in the pattern.

So now I have an entire room devoted to my craft and I bore my husband and friends with stories about stitch patterns and new techniques. But it keeps me off the streets and my hands busy while I sit in front of the TV or watch my husband playing music at a coffee shop.
Everyone should be so lucky.

8/27/2008

It's about time

So, I've been reading blogs and talking about blogs, and telling other people how they need to start their own blogs for years, but I've not gotten my butt in gear and started my own blog. Until now. So here it is my very own little blog. I will pet it and feed it and call it my own. Until I get bored and abandon it. I'll try not to but there are no promises. The only way I could get myself to do it was to set no rules for myself. The first step was simply to lay claim to the name and then we shall see if I can maintain any momentum.

I have a hard time committing to much of anything and the thought of having an agenda for this kind of thing scares me. I will talk about my Etsy shop, knitting, all the cool crap I buy on Etsy, and maybe a little about my wild and crazy life will slip in. Anyone who knows me will laugh because my life basically consists of my Etsy shop, knitting, and all the cool crap I buy on Etsy. So that will probably be about the extent of it, except for the occasional whine about work/husband or a gratutious shot of a niece or nephew, probably modeling a scarf or other knitted item. A knitting tip or Etsy selling or buying experience will probably round out the blogging agenda around here.

I used to keep a journal back in my single days and have around 10 filled somewhere with pathetic attempts at poetry and deep thoughts. Now that I am sufficiently medicated and placated with my domestic life I have found little to say. But we shall give this a try and see how it goes....
 

(c) Lenox Knits, 2009|Created by NSD