Knitting Company
Here’s a confession: I love to be alone. Just love it! When I am on my own, I do what I feel like, I knit, I sit down with my notepad and make sketches, I look at pictures of pretty things on the internet. Sometimes I play the piano or my guitar and sing, as loudly and as out of tune as I please. No one is there to criticize me or to suggest I should rather be cleaning the house or working on something. No one is fighting with his little sister, wants something to eat or my general attention. Solitude is really my favorite state of being – at least for a couple of hours a day, especially when I have time to knit. After that I will enjoy company and be ready for talking and discussions and entertainment. But a couple of hours without other human beings around me are essential for my happiness – and progress on my knitting.
I would dare to say that the more complex of my shawlettes would never have been completed if I had not been able to knit on them in solitude. It’s not really helpful when you are knitting on something that requires counting stitches when someone goes “Twenty-eight! Forty-seven! Seventy-nine!” in a loud, amused voice while you are desperately trying to find out how many stitches you are currently having on your needles. And what comes out of my mouth when I realize I forgot two yarn overs and a k2tog in the previous row is not really for the ears of my family members. Ever tried to read a lace chart while your husband wants to discuss next week’s dinner plan and the kids are throwing stuffed animals at each other? Doesn’t work that well, trust me.
Sometimes you need a little support when knitting a lace shawl…
On the other hand, it will work just fine with a knitting friend (preferably a lace fanatic) sitting beside me and a big mug of coffee in front of me. Sometimes the secret to a successful knitting project is not absolute silence but encouragement and help when something went wrong. And a second pair of eyes on the chart, because frankly, I sometimes do not see what is right in front of me. If we are joined by a couple of more lovely ladies, and conversation topics move from ssk and twisted stitches to blocking wires, spinning wheels, knitting podcasts and the general situation of the planet, my lace knitting time is usually over. Because I find my knitting friends and their topics are very often more entertaining than a lace chart. The only things I can successfully knit while chatting are garter-stitch shawlettes and simple children’s socks – and they have gone wrong many times too when I knit on them on knit night. But that’s fine, more than fine, because that’s the reason I go to knit night: I want to meet great, interesting people, totally diverse but miraculously unified by their love of fiber and related crafts.
By the way: My lace knitting is totally okay with being crammed into its bag on such occasions. Because the two of us will have a date tomorrow. Just us.
This perfectly captures what I’m like and how I feel, especially the first paragraph. Thank you for the affimation!
Oh my gosh, we could be twins. This could be my story, except I don’t play a music instrument or sing [okay I can sing but no one wants to hear that].
I also love to knit lace and I’m so in love with your designs. I wear my Bellrose almost everyday, going to make it again in a different color.
Du sprichst mir da aus dem Herzen. Deshalb habe ich auch immer mehrere Projekte in Arbeit. Für jede Gelegenheit wird das Passende hervor geholt.
Beim Stricktreff oder wenn eine interessante Sendung im TV kommt, ist mindless knitting angesagt.
Habe ich Nachtdienst und will wach bleiben, lieber ein komplizierteres Projekt.
Und beim Kaffeeklatsch mit 1-2 Strickfreundinnen etwas, bei dem ich mir noch nicht sicher bin und einen Rat benötige.
Die schönste Strickphase in diesem Jahr hatte ich, als ich mit mehreren Frauen zum Edinburgh Yarn Festival fuhr.
Wir hatten ein Apartment mit mehreren Zimmern und 2 Wohnzimmern gemietet.
Es kristallisierten sich natürlich Grüppchen heraus.
Mit 2 der Frauen traf ich mich immer schon morgens früh und wir strickten beim ersten Kaffee erstmal ein paar Reihen bevor wir frühstückten. So sollte jeder gute Tag beginnen!
An Abend waren wir drei meist auch die Letzten , die zu Bett gingen. Zuvor war der Ideenaustausch wundervoll.
Im nächsten Jahr ist Edinburgh wieder fest eingeplant!
Apropos Lace-Strickschrift: Ich male sie mir jetzt (Fotokopie/Ausdruck) mit Buntstiften und Neonfarben bunt an, damit die Motive und Strukturen gut herauskommen. Seitdem geht das Stricken schneller und ich irre mich weniger.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen und, ach ja, noch einem Wunsch: Könnte nicht auch auf der Homepage die Sprachauswahl gleich ganz oben stehen statt erst so unten auf der Seite? Das wäre nett!
B. Cottin