Why I knit

I don't really have too much to report today (maybe because I update this constantly, haha). My infection is improving, yay. I have started a new pair of longies, navy and green stripes. Not far enough along for pictures, but those will come soon enough. Anyway, recently Alex asked me why I started knitting, and I dug out this thing that I had written almost 3 years ago. She thinks I should write a book and include this :) but I will just share it here! (And I have since learned more and knitted more and this could stand to be updated, but I'm keeping it in its original form!)

Why I Knit:

I learned to knit a few years ago in an attempt to pull myself out of a depression. It didn't necessarily work, but obviously I stuck with it anyway. I thought for some reason that taking up some kind of craft might make me feel productive and less worthless, as I was feeling at the time. I had done needlepoint for a while in the past, but really, how many coasters and tissue box covers and that sort of thing does any one person need? Not many. (I did make some pretty nice coasters though, which have since been distributed throughout the family.) I didn't care for the thought of crochet. I did like the thought of knitting. (Why one and not the other, I don't really know. Knitting seemed more complex, I think, and I felt it would make me more proud or something.) I kind of thought knitting might be a dumb idea though because I again thought how many scarves and...knit-things does anyone need? But as it turns out, the answer is "as many as I want to knit."

I love knitting. I love the logic and order of it. Everything proceeds row by row. My inner "counter" sometimes enjoys counting stitches as I knit. My inner mathematician usually enjoys figuring out exactly where each decrease or increase will occur and what it will look like and so on. My inner Buddhist likes the meditative nature of knitting.

I've gotten to the point where the goal isn't necessarily just getting something finished, but getting it finished properly. I used to think, "Oh, I have six extra stitches here, but I'll just work around it." These days I will back-track until I find the mistake and then correct it. (Unless it is a really, really minor mistake that no one could ever possibly notice and it will take me three years to fix. It will still drive me a little crazy, but that's just me.)

I have made some really fun things. A Batpug sweater, a turtle, fingerless gloves, regular gloves, about a zillion scarves, many socks, some sweaters, etc. I have only experimented with colorwork, and that will change some day. For now, though, I am pretty happy to knit mostly socks with an occasional side project thrown in. The ladies at my knitting group are always impressed by my socks, and it makes me feel pretty good. So knitting has in fact helped with the self-worth issues of the past, at least in part. Mostly I do it because I love the process of knitting something, but I must admit I also love making things that people will be impressed by.