novelty knitting

Completely unrelated intro but I was watching the latest version (2007) of Mansfield Park yesterday and it is soo good. Way better than the weird 1999 version with Frances O'Connor. Especially the ending when Edmund realizes he loves Fanny, sigh. It was so well acted I got carried away in the moment and ended up being late picking up my kids from school, opps!

Anyways, I've been thinking lately that knitted gifts are a tricky thing. I can spend hours and hours of time making a gorgeous knitted masterpiece but if the recipient doen't know much about knitting it can be a bit underappreciated. My friend recently made the cutest baby berry hat and when it didn't fit the baby they said "ooh it doesn't fit can you make another one?".....uuuh yeeeah ok it will only take her another 7 hours~! On the flip side I can take two hours make a quick simple kitschy gift and it will be adored and fawned over by everyone in the room. 

As a last minute idea I made a little Pikachu ninetendo DS cozy for my brother, just a pattern I threw together in two hours and he LOVED IT! Way more than the REAL gift that I had bought him. Everyone was so impressed and telling me I should make them to sell and I was like are you kidding me! THIS you are impressed with but you just shrug off the million hour fan and feather blanket I made for my mom, whatever!!

I think when making a gift for someone I'm going to have to take more factors into account. Who exactly is this gift for and will they notice and or appreciate all the time and effort put into making it. Are they worthy of a complicated intricate project or will a simple quickie little thing be loved just as much. These are the questions....

Stress Knitting

"There is nothing like employment, active indispensable employment, for relieving sorrow." - from Mansfield Park

I'm stressed.

When I am stressed I bake, I am a stress-baker. I won't get into the philosphy of why, but I'm guessing it's probably something about being in a situation where I am in control. I know in 40 min I can mix this and this and that, throw it in the oven and it will work out. It's not about the eating, although that is an added bonus, it about the process, it somehow relieves my stress.

My grand master plan is to change from being a stress-baker to a stress-knitter.

Right now I knit for fun, stuff for myself, gifts for others, sometimes it causes me stress but that is usually from mistakes made due to inattention. So how does one go about changing their coping habits?I'm not sure if it can be done, but I'm going to try! Everytime I get the urge to tie on my apron I grab my needles and work on my latest scarf creation. I thought a scarf would be a good choice because they take forever to make and they are usually just repetitive knitting, hopefully giving me time to get lost in the stitches and forget all my worries. I will be in control, knowing if I knit this, slip that and pass that one over it will all work out.

I love that quote from Mansfield park, Jane Austen is so wise. I'm thinking and slightly hoping it will be equally as true to say that there is nothing like employment, active indispensable employment, for relieving stress.

I'll let you know how it goes...

Commissions!

I've been too busy to blog lately, busy because I was working on a knitting commission!

Isn't that so cool! HAH!

A friend of mine asked if I could make a couple of pairs of legwarmers for her daughter and I felt so flattered that she thought I was a skilled enough knitter to want to pay me to make something.

It was a lot of work but I am very happy with how they turned out and I think she is too. I made two pairs of legwarmers and I was so excited I forgot to take a picture of one pair :)

This is a picture of the fancier one, it's a spiral lace pattern, so cute! Too cute in fact, now my two daughters want me to make pairs for them too.

Next a quickie project for my brothers upcoming birthday and then it's all about ME!