Organizing MY Knitting Space

I'm part of the Organized Knitting Club on Ravelry. In fact, I'm moderating the Organized Space forum. My first task was asking people to measure their space and draw up a floorplan, so here's mine:

I use one room in my apartment for my knitting, tv viewing, and computer usage. The challenge is to analyze the space and figure out a plan to make the best use of it. This will include input from the other Organizing forums, to which Ravelers are contributing. My hypothesis is that the best storage tips in the world won't really be of any use if you can't fit the 'idea' into the space you have. I also plan to address issues of seating, light, and ergonomics. Whee!!

I don't yet have the courage to post 'before' pictures. There is some essential de-cluttering that needs to be done first (recommended reading: Jeff Campbell's "Clutter Control" - it changed my life, along with his book "Speed Cleaning").

Come back soon for my "before" pics...

It Felt RIGHT!

I picked up some knitting I was working on (an Aran sweater). I had set everything up: the pattern (my own design) was laid out in front of me, the light was adjusted, and I had a blanket to wrap around my feet to keep me warm.

I worked my way through the first row of the day, started the next row, and then it happened. Everything just felt right. I literally felt my body relax, my hands develop a flow as the yarn fed through and the stitches were knit. I was focused, but not obsessively so, on the pattern. Some might call it Zen knitting, but I would describe it as my ‘muscle memory’ taking over.

Muscle memory is what dancers and martial artists train for (I’ve been both). It’s learning to do something so well, that your body does it before you have to think about it.

That’s what happened to me while I was knitting. After the first row was knit, my body ‘remembered’ what it was I was working on, and cooperated with the process.

I’m sure that if you think back to the projects you really liked working on, you’ll find that, perhaps, one reason was that your muscle memory was making everything go more smoothly.

Since repetition and practice are needed to embed muscle memory, beginning knitters will not attain this state immediately, but I’m sure that one reason that so many knitters stick with knitting is that they DO achieve this relaxed, easy flow to their knitting.

So maybe knitting isn’t the new yoga, but the new martial art!

From Done to Almost Done

After shovelling snow for an hour, I got my car dug out (with help from a neighbor) and cleared the walk from the back door to the sidewalk. Then I looked at the pristine snow in my yard and threw myself down and made a snow angel.

I also have finished some belated Christmas gifts:

two ball band washcloths and a fabulous bar of soap from Frost Fish Cove Soaps for my sister and her family,

Ice Queen from Knitty:

for a friend (luckily, she was away for the holidays). There are beads on it. If it looks a little weird, it's because I draped it over a plastic pail. It took me three days of trying, frogging, leaving to calm down, and returning to get the picot bind off right.

And tonight I have to finish a pair of fingerless mitts to send off as part of a swap. I "designed" them myself, and they're simpler than they look, since there are only two rows of stranded color work in every 8-row pattern repeat. Part of what I was experimenting with was the way colors change based on what color they are next to.

My Roving Dog

I followed the directions in "Fleece Dog" and ended up with this cute little guy.

This One's for Me.

I loved the Nomad Hat and Scarf when I saw it in Interweave Knits Fall 2007. I changed the yarn to Noro Kuchoron (wool/alpaca blend, yum!) and used smaller needles for a smaller hat and tighter fabric. So I took a break from knitting gifts for others, to provide for myself. It was a quick knit - 3 days, and easy, too. Now, I love the hat because it is so wonderfully warm.

Right now I have all the supplies for two sweaters sitting waiting for me - patterns, yarn, and needles. They've been put on hold while I knit holiday gifts. I've noticed a pattern of procrastination - the big stuff gets pushed to the side for smaller projects with more immediate gratification. Am I the only one spending what seems to me to be huge amounts of money for yarn for sweaters that just sits there? Are the others who share this weakness? Do you do it one sweater at a time, or do you also have several stashed away?

You Know you're A Yarn Addict When...

you realize you like the smell of wet wool.

Some People Know How To Do Things Right!

First, I have to thank Anja in Germany for sending me this marvelous sock yarn. I joined a swap for a skein of sock yarn. She not only sent the yarn, she sent a sock-making kit! Needles, stitch markers, needle point protectors, and even a hand-made bag to keep them in. And just in case I feel the need to relax after all my knitting, she included two bath cubes (which aren't in the pictures) .

She put everything together so thoughtfully. Thanks, Anja!

With the holidays approaching with more speed than I anticipated, I have been knitting constantly in an attempt to get presents done. I've already switched to Plan B (mittens for 4 kids, adults will get wristlets and/or washcloths with a really nice bar of soap (Frost Fish Cove Soaps).

There are, of course, a few other things on my needles that might go into the gift pile (the Nomad Hat & Scarf from Interweave Knits Fall 2007 knit in Noro Kuchuron, sorry about the spelling, that's almost finished).

I might end up repeating what I did last year: spread everything I have for gifts out and then get my sister to help me decide who gets what.