My New Hobby

Confession (which surprises no one): I am not good at sitting still. I have devoted considerable time and energy into finding contentment outside of checklists and have, through the grace of God, limited many of the negative effects of my natural striving, outcome-focused economy on my mind, body, and spirit. But even as I find increased joy in margin and space, the truth is that my hands just like to be busy!

Enter my new hobby: Knitting! Knitting is AMAZING. I get to make pretty things, learn new skills, create gifts, buy fun and good-feeling and ridiculously-expensive yarns, purchase accessories like yarn winders and neato knitting needle sets, follow patterns (I love following patterns), and have something to do when I travel or watch TV! Knitting just may be the perfect hobby.

It all started this summer when we went on a multi-family camping trip to the Oregon Coast.

My fabulous friend Cindy has been knitting for years and I tasked her with buying me some starter yarn and needles and teaching me the basics. With infinite patience, she helped me create some practice squares and set me up with her favorite knitting book, Stitch 'n Bitch, and with an introduction like that what more could I need?

Then things got crazy.

See, another dear friend was giving birth to her third-born at the end of August. If it's true that I'm not good at sitting still, it's equally true that when I jump in, it's always with both feet - so I figured I should make a baby blanket!

Note to all new knitters out there: when you decide to knit your first big project, and it's a gift for a specific occasion (e.g. birth of a child), begin more than two weeks before the event! But, I figured that the baby was unlikely to need a merino blanket in August anyway, so if I was little tardy the baby wasn't likely to mind - and into the project I plunged!

I was super happy with the finished product. It was far from perfect, but, hey, that's how you know it was hand made with care, right?!? And the wool was super soft and it should last long enough to be an heirloom.

At this point, I was hooked. But, after doing such a ginormous project it was time for something a little faster. Plus, I wanted to experiment with different patterns, and Christmas was coming so it was time to make gifts. All of those factors combined into my scarf-making craze! It turns out that scarves are basically the best thing to knit ever, especially for beginners. You can use really chunky yarn so they go fast and they're easy to give away because one size fits all!

Steve got my first scarf attempt. I was a little dubious that he actually wanted it since, in our 21 years of marriage, I've never ever seen him wear a scarf. Plus, as my first attempt, it was a little wobbly. But he was very sweet and actually wore it a bunch of times this winter and said that he got a ton of compliments when he wore it up at the Sundance Film Fest while volunteering. So, I figure, if it was nice enough to get Film Fest compliments, I must have done pretty well.

And thus began the scarf-knitting craze. I played with different colors and styles and stripes and it was a lot of fun. The yarn was hella expensive - it turns out that when you consistently buy chunky merino yarn from adorable little shops in Seattle, it's not cheap. But I figure that if I'm going to put this much time and attention and love into something, it might as well feel good!

And once the Christmas-fest knitting frenzy was over, it was time to get back to my main project - a sweater!

Yes, I know I have issues.

I had a blast knitting my sweater. It took me from November to March, with some weeks off for Christmas presents. And the pattern I chose was a fisherman's knit, which, in my ignorance, I thought would be fun - but little did I know that every row is actually knit into the one before it. This makes the knit super chunky and warm, but it means that the sweater basically takes twice as long because you have to knit each row twice. Well, live and learn.

The sweater is 100% merino wool and weighs just shy of three pounds (yes, I weighed it). It is basically the world's heaviest, warmest sweater and I love it! I always feel a little guilty if I wear another sweater, like I'm cheating on it. I guess when you spend that much time creating a thing, you forge a slightly disturbing bond with it.

Here are my sweater vanity shots - I'm particularly proud of the sleeve decreases; they look so darn cool.

I also made my mom a wrap as a late Christmas present:

And now I'm making myself a fun striped wrap in preparation for sundress and evening summer concert season in faith that summer concerts will again be a thing!

So, there you have it, my new hobby-slash-obsession. In this time of Tiger King-watching sequestering, I'm happier than ever that I have something productive, beautiful, and comforting to keep my hands busy.

Now I gotta go knit and watch the next episode of Tiger King - those people are so marvelously, crazily entertaining!