spring knitting.

It’s spring, which means all my heavy wool yarn and fat needles are tucked away for cool weather, and I’m busy knitting dishcloths.

I’m having so much fun!

I’ve learned three patterns so far, they are simple beginner patterns, but still it seems to take a lot of practice.

 

 

I highly recommend knitting dishcloths. It’s fun to open your drawer and see a stack of cheerful colors looking up at you. And when I get them to look just a bit neater, I’ll give them as gifts.

They’re quick and a ball of cotton yarn is $2.99 at Michael’s — less if there’s a sale or if you have a coupon.

When do I knit, you ask?

When I’m hanging out with my kids, watching Free Solo with the family (just.crazy.), debriefing with David about his work day, brain-storming the vision of CPC, watching The Making of George Lucas’ Star Wars trilogy with Judah, and sitting in the back of my kids’ Classical Conversations classroom.

Knitting has made me a more social person. Because really I mostly just want to bury my head in a book every spare moment. But that’s not always great for, you know, human relationships.

 

 

Judah, Amelie and I nearly always have a chapter book going at night that we pull out after the little guys are in bed.

I’ve read chapter books to them for years and we have some of our sweetest memories getting lost in a great story together, feeling like the characters are our real friends or mentors.

Well one of my favorite things about knitting, is that now Judah reads to Amelie and me. I knit dishcloths and she draws in her ever-present sketchbook. It’s delightful.

 

 

There’s something about my crazy Type-A mind that struggles to just settle down and be with people. The to-do list is always running rampant through my head, especially around the house. For some reason, knitting just helps with that. It calms me down so that I can be with my people and enjoy them.

David has learned to say, “I need to process a couple things about church with you — you better go get your knitting.”

It also gets me in touch with my creative side.

I’ve been thinking about creating versus consuming lately. As a culture, we have a habit of consuming. Lots and lots. I think some of our collective restlessness lies in the fact that we’re made to create. And yet somehow, the more we consume, the less creative we become.

I want my kids to see me creating as they grow up. I want them to be inspired to do the same, in their own unique ways.

Hmmm. Deep thoughts for a knitting blog post.

Also learning to knit this year is giving me some confidence to try other new things.

We’re done with our homeschool year in three weeks, and my gift to myself is this beginner embroidery kit for a summer project (which is on sale right now!). I can’t wait.

What’s something new you’re learning to do these days?