Ten on Tuesday – Ten Reasons Why You Knit

Its birthday season around here so last weekend my siblings and I got together with our respective families. I can share more about our mini-getaway later this week. For now, here’s a picture of our birthday kids. From left to right they are Stinkerbelle, my brother Micah, and my sister Jessica.



Two of them are celebrating birthdays today. My sister, Jessica is celebrating a BIG one and Stinkerbelle is turning 14 but for her, every birthday is a BIG one. My brother will celebrate on Friday.
 
Coincidently, they would all love to be receiving handknits from me, today or any day which gives me a nice segue into today’s Ten on Tuesday. They are a few of the reasons why I knit. My brother recently wore through a pair of gloves I made for him a number of years ago, my sister gifted me with yarn and spinnables at Rhineback a while back with a request that I turn them into socks, and Stinkette has a list of stuff she’d like me to make for her. At the top of that list are socks and fingerless gloves.

1. So my family is the first reason why I knit. I like making stuff for them and they love to wear it.
2. I like knitting – just that
3. Knitting relaxes me. When I was a brand new knitter I read a book called Zen and the Art of Knitting or something similar. It spoke to me.
4. I like stuff the way I like it. I often see a sweater that I’d like to have but… I’d rather have it in another color, or a less scratchy wool, or a bigger size, or if it was longer, shorter, yadda, yadda, yadda… If I knit it myself I can make it just right.
5. Knitting satisfies my creative side. I used to paint and sculpt. Now I knit.
6. Knitting help me turn TV time into productive time. I feel less guilty about time spent on the couch if I’ve made progress with some knitting.
7. I really love wearing knitted socks. I’m wearing some right now. They are warm and fun and make me smile.
8. I love the knitting community. Being a knitter has opened doors for me that I never even knew were there. I go places I never imagined and I experience things that I never expected.
9. Knitty friends – this is slightly different. It’s not just the stuff I’ve learned but the people I’ve met. I really, really, love the friends that knitting has given me.
10. The connection to the past. I began knitting as a tribute to my grandmother. Since then I’ve lost many more and I have knitting memories for many of them – how my dad loved that I was using his mother’s needles, the chemo cap I made for my mother in law, the sock I made for my grandfather that he told me he loved over and over again.

So Happy Birthday to Stinkette, and Jess, and  Micah.  I love you all and I will knit for you all again soon. Because I really love it!