Slow and Steady

I recently observed two knitting podcasters engage in a sockathon for the month of January.  And at the end of it they tied at 35 pairs of socks knitted. Each. They weren't doing this for any sort of charity or anything like that, just knitting this quickly against each other just because.

Another knitter, the Yarn Harlot, is known for the speed of her knitting and actually teaches classes on the particular technique she uses (apparently developed when women actually needed to knit quickly to live). Watching videos of her zip along are enough to cause agita, and watching her crank out last minute gifts and sweaters can only leave you in wonderment, or at least in her dust, because in the time you've spent being impressed, she has finished. 

And then there's me. A newish knitter since I have known how to knit since childhood, but never really took to it, who instead became a crocheter. And a crocheter I remain, but I am now exploring knitting again as a new mother looking to release my creativity in as many mediums as possible because motherhood is draining on the pysche and sometimes you need a lot of avenues for self expression when you spend countless hours alone with your baby. That, and it's nice to look forward to a project that isn't you growing said child. 

So late last fall, full of enthusiasm, I looked around and purchased a few sweater patterns for me to make my kid, and had the sudden ambition to make my little boy a Christmas sweater! It occurred to me, quite emphatically, that I wanted to start the tradition of an annual sweater, so the week before Christmas seemed the right time to make this decision and execute it. Totally delusional, of course, because my little guy doesn't care about my craft life and as I had only retaught myself how to knit, the sweater is still in progress as we head into Valentine's Day. "Lucky" for him that's our wedding anniversary so the sweater still has a attachment to some holiday (ok, whateva), but in all legit honesty it also stands for the small moments I take during his naps and sometimes before I go sleep, slowly working on his little red sweater. Yes, I admittedly have wasted some time looking at how other knitters knit quickly, but I always return to my steady pace.  Because, at the end of the day, when my little guy looks back at pictures of himself in this sweater, all he'll think about, all that matters really, is that he was/is loved and his mama made him something nice. 

I think I'll make this deadline...

A little something from Gigi today...