Good evening knitting lovers. Are you not a knitting lover? Hopefully I can change your mind.
I started knitting because I made a friend who was an avid knitter. My mother is a self-taught knitter, so during my first Christmas break I asked my mom to teach me how to knit. I took to it very quickly, and spent the next year learning how to knit. Merely one year after she first taught me, I tackled the double knit Harry Potter book scarves! Less than a year after that, I decided to tackle spa kits (Bernat) for all of my cousins on one side of the family. I started during the summer, but still ended up scrambling to get them done on time. Not only did I succeed, but I also needed to start fingerless mittens for my mother-in-law, which I finished in about 72 hours. Moral: Practice does make Perfect.
So now, I am sitting here, the owner of the Etsy shop Given Knit My All, and trying to knit to the absolute best of my ability. But also, trying to figure out which projects I can still do for myself and engage in some selfish knitting and keep up with my shop. I’m posting as many updates as I can to my Facebook Page, but even that is a challenge! It’s much harder than I expected, especially with also trying to finish my PhD in Chemical Engineering in the next 12 months. I will admit- it is more than I expected it to be. Would I change it? Absolutely not!
Currently, I have some washcloths and headbands up in the shop, and I am honestly in love with all of them. I admit, these are all good weekend knitting projects so the quantity available does not match the quantity completed. I am anxious to finish knitting these because I really want to move on to something else. Last year, my Christmas present to myself was alpaca yarn and a cardigan pattern. I definitely want that to at least get started as fall starts rolling in to Iowa City, but we shall see.
Although I am not working on anything totally new this week, I am pretty excited to keep working on the old stuff. I have high hopes that these will be done faster than I can imagine. I also keep thinking about how to add other items, such as Kindle cases like the one I made for myself, or tablet sweaters, because how cute is that? Neither of these are perfect; I already know how I would improve them. But they were great for stash buster projects and great for me to learn how these projects feel for me and my fingers.
Knitting is just so powerful. You can make so many awesome things and find so much love and happiness. Making patterns is very difficult, which I have always known, but figuring them out is so rewarding; again, I wouldn’t change it. What is your favorite relaxing or rewarding activity? Let me know in the comments! I love hearing from you!
She’s Got a Whole PhD 