Knit for Brains dot Net

Archive for the ‘The Knitting Experience’ Category

I’ve worn my share of heavy socks and found that its like walking on beads or gravel. If you are tender footed like me and need heavy socks for cold weather you know they are a bit uncomfortable, especially when you first start walking around in them. It feels like something is gnawing at your soles. Even after you get used to it the irritation is still Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes when you’ve been knitting a lot you get to a point were you just don’t want to do it, but you’ve got three or six or nine projects sitting around and all that time and money invested, and you know you enjoy knitting. So why can’t you knit now and what can you do about it?

Well, sometimes we just need a break. You need something different for a while. Really, your brain and psyche and spirit do need variety. Yes, some people can knit until the cows come home, but remember everyone is different. You know about how people with different Read the rest of this entry »

In my previous post about recycling yarn I stated that I didn’t like the process of hunting for the source sweater at a thrift shop, and I’m sticking with that opinion. You will not find me giving but a cursory glance at the sweaters there when I’m there for something else. It’s just too much effort for too little result. I have better things to do with that time.

I did however realize that recycling a new sweater from some inexpensive shop such as Ross or Marshalls is a great option. I was there shopping for the holidays last month and was lured to the men’s sweater rack. One thing I was confident of was that I would not be disappointed by finding a great sweater that had been ruined by washing and felting/fulling. While there were not a lot of colors and fibers that I wanted I did find one that is perfect.

A lot of nice yarn for just $20. Maybe I'll make a scarf and socks.

It’s a gray sweater in what I believe is Read the rest of this entry »

Well, my laziness about my knitting projects and supplies has come to a head. I don’t have much yarn my any standards. After all, I’ve only been knitting for a few months, but I never really got a good set up to keep my yarn and now I’ve had enough of the mess and have finally got it managed. I’ve been the sort that had a bag of yarn or stuff from the store and just used that to store the supplies in. The bags and balls of yarn were all over the place, mostly all over the dining table and surrounding area. Here’s what it looked like.

A little blurry, a lot messy.

I’d wanted a cabinet of some sort to keep it all in but Read the rest of this entry »

(Be sure to see part 2 of this topic at this link)

Well, I made a trip to our local Savers Thrift Department store to look for decent wool sweaters from which to recycle the yarn. I thought this would be a great, economical way to obtain several skeins worth of yarn for just about $6. In general, I do believe recycling yarn can be a worthwhile endeavor, but I don’t think it’s for me. The reality of the hunt is not worth the result, which today resulted in more awareness than wool.

First thing I did was examine the 20 feet of men’s sweaters. Feeling along the edges of them for something that might be wool, as well as looking for sweaters that are mostly a solid color I discovered a few things about Read the rest of this entry »

Well, as an Aries I guess I had to get used to the idea of time and slowness. Knitting is giving me an opportunity to see things unfold over time, even the planning and re-planning of projects. Usually I’m kind of impatient and don’t see the process of things. Somehow I expect them to just happen fast, but they don’t.

1. I have my red scarf planned and barely started. It’s a complicated pattern I’ve mentioned before, but I’m not excited about doing a scarf as I keep getting distracted.

2. I’ve been positioning myself for my first pair of socks, and have determined that I will do them toe up, magic loop, and have picked a pattern – mostly. I still have to order the yarn. I’m going for sport weight for a bit of a faster knit, but I also want to try a pair in worsted as the yarn is also cheaper – and I have some to use up. For the pattern I’m going to use the Serpentine pattern from Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson, but I need to modify the pattern for a taller sock, so that is delaying me. Socks are complicated! So many choices.

3. Another project is the Notting Hill cabled vest I ordered the pattern for from Interweave. I also sent for 10 balls of Dougherty yarn for it from knitpicks.com’s that is a blend of middle greens in their wool Shamrock line. Great price. The yarn just came today so now I have one project with a clear path and target. Nothing to figure out. Whew.

Notting Hill Vest from Interweave

4. Then I thought up a project for use in knitting itself, inspired by my cousin Leigh. She knits with her yarn sitting in an appropriate piece of her Hull pottery collection. I have a Hull & Sons chair, but I don’t have any Hull pottery or anything else.

One of Leigh's Hull Knitting Pots

I’ve been using Tupperware equivalents. So I decided I would knit myself some bowls and full them (like felting). So far I think I will double knit them so they have tougher walls to hold their shape, but I am yet to decide on a design, size or shape. I’ll have something for two-at-a-time socks that will hold two balls and the socks, and others for various projects, yarn and wip contained together. But probably not for the whole vest.

I paid $5 for this beauty. It's actually pretty comfortable.

I’m going to use mostly Lion Brand Fisherman’s wool worsted weight because I keep getting coupons for Joann’s to get 40% off and don’t really need much else – and they are big skeins for $9 before discount. I’m going there today to get a couple. Maybe I’ll buy some cheap craft felt or foam sheets to plan my bowl structure.

5. I also had begun a roll-up knitting needle holder but I’m not thrilled with how it’s turning out. It was to be in a multi colored acrylic yarn – didn’t care about that as it’s just for utility. But now I do care and have decided to make a sort of quiver with felted/fulled wool, and I think I’ll do a set of felted/fulled tags to keep the pairs paired rather than everything mixed up.

And then there are all the other exciting things I’m discovering: 6. I want to do a few videos on some things to show how the techniques are done in Portuguese knitting style, and 7. I have a new idea for a method that is derived from entrelac that I need to test. 8. I would also like to try stranded knitting.

One thing at a time. What? One thing at a time. What? One thing at a time. What?

• Turning a corner (crazyauntpurl.com)
• Two Directions (seemingly) At The Same Time? (timesunion.com)
• Too stupid to know better…. (momblognetwork.com)

I started into knitting a few months ago, teaching myself from books and videos. You would think by now that I would have knitted more than more than the one, simple Cossack hat from the Folk Hats book. No. And even that I just finished last week.

I’m an Aries. We are starters. The beginning is all important to us. Sometimes it is more important than anything that comes after the beginning, which is why completing things is a challenge. Oddly enough, we are also into speed and can be impatient. Patience and focus are important lessons for me. I’ve tended to be impatient with myself for not completing what I’ve started. So knitting is an interesting situation for me. It’s challenging me to understand my process, to understand the process that is learning, as well as the process of knitting itself.
Read the rest of this entry »

There are many ways to improve your quality of living. Meditation is well known as a reconditioner of the human heart, mind and spirit, and knitting is apparently a pretty powerful mode of meditation. There are books and articles on knitting as a therapeutic, meditative and even spiritual tool. Many find knitting as a way to get through tough times, but apparently it has benefits that can help keep tough times away by soothing are training our minds and perhaps healing our bodies.

The rows to enlight-knit-ment?

As I’ve mentioned before, one of the reasons I got into knitting is to improve my powers of concentration. Delving into the craft I’ve been surprised at the degree of detail involved in producing a knitted item. I had done some basic crochet in years past, but I’ve found knitting is a good bit more complex. But don’t let that scare you away if you are new to it. I’ve enjoyed the structure and discipline called for in knitting. That’s what I want and need anyway.

So this post is supposed to be about knitting as meditation. Why am I writing about the degree of detail and mental demands in knitting? I think part of what’s calming and meditative about it is that it absorbs your attention and in such a way that it draws you away from other mental activity that either contributes to stress or which scatters your mental energy. Because knitting demands a certain kind and degree of attention on one thing it functions to order or comb out the jangles and tangles of your mind, both consciously and non-consciously.

Knitting is both creative and organized. In this way it occupies the left brain to maintain the structure needed to follow the pattern, but also stimulates the right brain as a creative activity. So a part of the soothing, meditative effect could be a result of this as a possibly balancing activity, along with occupying the left brain which often is a source of stressful mental activity.

In my own experience I find myself sighing in relief even as I cast on, as if my inner being is getting the signal that some good knitting time is coming, and this relaxation response continues as I knit, with a few more sighs as I get into it. Part of this is also the satisfaction I get from allowing myself a creative outlet, something I have tended to neglect in my life. That alone is very satisfying. When you are deficient in creative self-expression you will feel stressed.

I believe additional soothing effects come from the feeling of the soft yarn on your finger tips and pressure on the needle shafts. Your fingertips are loaded with nerve receptors and you have acupressure points near each finger tip. The tactile stimulation with both your needles and the yarn is likely to be very supportive of mental function and overall body health in some way. Most of us know how soothing it is to pet a cat, dog or other animal – any soft, smooth or furry material. And while you aren’t directly stimulating the acupressure points they receive some from the movement of the tissues as you handle the needles. Your mind is focused and soothed, which takes stress off the body as well.

Practitioners of meditation receive long lasting benefit when they have been doing it for a while, so it’s not like you will have to knit to relax. As in any activity, what happens is that you train your brain, actually reconfiguring and growing the new neural connections between your brain cells, that knitting requires. Thus your ability to concentrate and to enter the soothed state outside of knitting grows and grows the more you knit. You could even just imagine knitting to help yourself shift closer to that state.

So knitting isn’t just a nice little needlecraft. It helps you develop a quality of mind and consciousness and even condition of body through the direct and indirect effects of the activity of the mind and hands. Considering this you look differently at knitting as an activity.

You may have seen the tshirt that reads, “I knit because I’m smarter than you.” Or maybe you are smarter because you knit. Or both!

This CBS GMA video below supports one of the reasons I got into knitting: mental fitness.

This video on CBS is about how knitting is a great way to occupy kids when the weather keeps them inside, either at school or home.

This article is about men knitting, and some even use knitting as a babe magnet.