Homestretch…

That’s where I am!! Tomorrow is my last day at school with students. Technically if my room and everything is ready to go then it’s my last day period. Students or not…of course, I’ve procrastinated some and am not entirely ready to walk out and not come back til August…mentally I’m done. 8th grade had their last day of classes last Friday, making this week relatively stress free. I miss those kids though. It’s crazy…all the prep and work that went in to all of those classes and some of the interactions and discussions that happened were the highlight of my day 🙂 But it is nice to have some quiet time in school to get things done.

***This got lost in my drafts from Thursday…it’s Sunday now. And I’m officially finished with my first year back in the classroom. The first year where I am a married teacher…answering to a different name. It was very strange at first, but now that’s who I see myself as. It’s a good feeling. I also have ONE BILLION things to work on this summer to make sure next year is better.

I’m looking forward to a productive summer. I hope it will be. I keep planning and thinking of all the things to get done and I feel it filling up!! Not in a bad way, but in a productive busy way.

I’m sitting at my dining room table and I can see my yarn cabinet. It’s calling my name!! I’ve also found out recently that several of my friends are expecting near the end of the year…so knitting mojo needs to be in full swing so I can help welcome their little ones with knitted goodness 🙂 I’ve got this cute little hat going…

It’s a Simple Baby Cap by Susan B. Anderson out of some Adriafil Knitcol that does all the work for me! I’ve got several balls of this just for baby hats. It’s awesome.

I’ve also almost gotten one sleeve of Nora’s sweater almost complete.

I’m also inspired to knit my own sweater!! I’d like to fix up the Turia and get it to a place so I can wear it.

I’d also like to rip out my Whispers top that I knit a few years ago…I don’t know why I knit a short sleeve wool “sweater” but it’s too warm for my torso while my arms are cold. I’m not one to wear a vest…I like sleeves!!! I’ve got another skein…maybe I can make it into something wearable 🙂

I could sit here all day and wax poetic about all the yarn that I’m staring at and all the things it could be…but then I’d get absolutely nothing done! Not even any knitting!

I’ll update again soon 🙂
❤
Jenna

That Day When You Can Run Again…

It’s Thursday again! It has been a tough week. I woke up on Saturday with a scratchy throat and no voice…Sunday was the same….Monday I felt like absolute garbage…Tuesday I felt better because I went to bed at 7:00pm Monday night…Wednesday I bought and took some Mucinex MAX…and today…the meds are still going but I feel more like myself. I went for a run. The first time since last Tuesday I’ve run and last Wednesday was the last time I went to the gym…

It is 7:08pm…it would be nice to be in bed but it’s not vital to my survival like it was on Monday. Instead, this is my set up:

I’m knitting on a white baby hat…it’s a baby size, not a newborn. Their heads don’t stay that small for that long. One of my favorite people has just found out that a tiny human is growing inside and it will be a bit of time before we all find out boy or girl…so I’m knitting a white hat. Plus it will look timeless.

Also there is beer. This is the first time since Sunday I’ve felt good enough to drink beer. that is so sad. Beer is one of my favorite beverages…its on the list of 5 things I drink: coffee, water, tea, beer, sparkling water…sometimes rootbeer in a rootbeer float or perhaps a gin & tonic…but mostly beer if I’m feeling like alcohol. And it’s basically water-beer tonight. But it’s a beer. That’s a step.

School is drawing to a close. Just tomorrow. And 2 more weeks. We need summer. This group of girls I have…it’s like tiptoeing through a mine field! One sideways glance or a gentle scolding for not meeting expectations and suddenly “The teacher HATES me” and “The teacher is SO MAD at me!” I will tell you one thing, it takes a hell of a lot more than what these kids are doing to make me “hate” a person…and for that matter a whole lot more for me to be “mad.” I need to remember…middle school hormones are the worst! Try not to take it personally…but I don’t like being perceived in a way that I don’t mean to be.

Just like here. I want to be real. My life is not all rosy but it isn’t all bad either. I’m by no means living a life without. I’m very grateful. I need to do more to give back.

Sidenote. I’ve been racking my brain trying to come across the instance when I could have portrayed that I “hated” and was “so mad” at this one student…but then I realize I’m sifting through HUNDREDS of interactions I’ve had today with kids!!!!! My day started by taking attendance and greeting students and asking them to get ready and be quiet for the prayer and sending students to the office to turn things in…this just happened between 7:45 and 8:00!!! Then we had mass…then I had a 7th grade math class where I interacted with at least 28 students…then I went to the computer lab to help with a Kindergarten tech class with 28 more kids that I only see once a week…then back for planning period, thank the Lord…then back for more Kindergarten tech with 27 kids I only see once a week…then to 8th grade math with 15 kids…then lunch, finally…then 6th grade math with 14 kids…and 6th grade math with 9 kids…and then finally homeroom with my 21…

In between that I am in the hall, talking with students and teachers…popping into other classrooms…without all of that 163 students have passed before me. I’ve probably spoken directly to most of the kindergarteners at least 4 or 5 times…this generation of littles struggles with using a mouse…couple that with the fact that they are just learning to read, there is a lot of questions!!! My brain is fried! I can’t even begin to think of when I would have said anything to a student to make them feel upset.

But somehow I have. I even talked with the parent and she couldn’t give me specifics. I’m hoping its just pre-teen angst. But I don’t like that I’m at the end of it. I’m hoping to fix it tomorrow. I’ll probably come off like a huge dork.

Best job in the world. Hardest one I’ve had 🙂

I’m going to knit on that hat. That baby is growing!!

❤
Jenna

Wanting

I want to write. I don’t know what to write.

There was a social media presentation today at school for the kids. One thing that struck me about the presenter is how she said that so many people try to paint a perfect picture of their lives online. This creates the “Compare & Despair” thing that we have going on when we check out their pictures, posts, whatever. I try to not engage in that…I try to just look for ideas I can implement for myself. I know that everyone’s lives have their challenges and that no matter the pretty picture painted on the internet, it’s often not entirely true. I try to put out my best foot…while being authentic.

It’s how I try to live my life. I try not to get bogged down with the bad…try to not complain…or compare…or whatever. But I too get sucked in. Some days are easier than others to pass on the bitch session…I’d like to think lack of sleep contributes…but some days, you just feel like you get the short end of everything…like I’ve said before on here…everything just keeps coming in a steady stream.

I’ve signed my contract. I’m employed for another year. I’m praying my partner teacher signs her’s too…I’m not sure she will, I know this year has been hard for her…I’m hoping that her connection with the current 7th grade will keep her here…I need one more year for my own learning and sanity. I feel like I actually have someone on the same wavelength as me…someone I can talk to and I’m not worried about all the crazy social games that 36 teachers play like middle school girls. I was hoping that as an adult we would have outgrown that stuff, but maybe being around kids brings it all back out? I’m not sure, but some days the people on my team feel pretty slim…like me and my partner…maybe another bystander teacher or two…I’m not sure. I’m hoping that summer break will bring us all some healing and insight…maybe we can drop the ridiculous middle school girl drama pretense. I have a hard enough time keeping my students out of that shit, I don’t want to devote any time to keeping myself out of it!

Thankfully, I’ve had a good amount of knitting time lately. I also had the opportunity to try the Harvest Cardigan on my niece…it fits and she loves it! Only one tiny problem…she would like it finished yesterday 🙂 That’s not exactly a problem, except I haven’t finished it. I’m hoping that I will soon.

I also spent some time over the last week adding my new-ish stash to Ravelry…my friend Korey loves to call me out when I’m browsing my online stash for something to new to cast on…I try to keep it updated so I can frequent the LYS less frequently…and knit down my stash…

I’ve got yarn for 5 sweaters. For me. I need to just knit the damn things. I’m not shrinking. I need to knit the sweater to fit the body I have.

I am being active. I signed up to run a 5k in a few weeks and I’ve been “running” every other day…I put running in quotes because its so slow…but it is the effort.

I’m holding off on starting the Whole30 until the summer…the website talks about feeling crabby and a lack of patience….things I cannot afford as a luxury until the school year ends. I don’t need to feel like crap these last few weeks if I can help it!

That’s better.

Glad I could share 🙂

❤
Jenna

7:00pm…

And I’m ready for bed! How is it so? I’m months from 30, I don’t have any children of my own to wear me out…but I do spend my days with almost 100 students entering and exiting my classroom throughout the day. I’ve been working hard to plan and be prepared for my classes…but some days are better than others. I think that’s just the nature of working with students! They are the variable and so much depends on them…if they are having a good day, what time it is, how close are we to lunch or snack or the end of the day, what happened in the class before, what’s happening after school…if the calculator looks like a cell phone 🙂

All of these are distractions and factor into how things go each day in my classroom. I can only try to be constant myself, being prepared and happy to see them. I was reminded today how much I do love my kiddos…I’ve only known them for about a month, maybe 7 weeks…so almost 2, but I think we are starting to understand each other. It’s hard to remember that I have to get to know these people at a new place…they don’t know me and I don’t know them from a prior life, we have to find our groove…I think we are on our way. This doesn’t make any of this less hard.

It doesn’t change the fact that I’m seriously considering hitting publish and then going to bed.

My knitting has been pretty monogamous…just the baby blanket. Like I said before, Baby Joe is here and the weather is starting to change…I need to get this thing off the needles! I’ll try to get a picture tomorrow in the daylight and upload it…maybe Instagram. It’s coming along. I find comfort in the stockinette and the springy yarn. It’s nice to turn my brain off for a while but keep my hands productive.

Just a thought 🙂

❤
Jenna

I Knit Because…

I love it! It’s simple really. I love making with my hands. That’s what knitting is to me, creating with my hands…I know, there are sticks and string and a few “fancy” movements, but its something I make. With my hands.

Got it?

I would hope so. So that brings me to the blog. I enjoy writing here because I like sharing what I’m working on. I like connecting with other knitters. This is a nice, clean place. I don’t share the hard things going on in life, just what I make with my hands.

So I’ve been away. Life is hard. It’s hard to balance the things I want to do, the things I need to do, the things I’m doing…Relatively speaking, my life is wonderful. I am happy, I have the most wonderful partner, all the people I love are healthy…life is just hard in the way of making choices and prioritizing for the future. This should be read as, “this girl has to spend time working on job applications, cover letters, resumes, philosophies of teaching, laundry, general cleaning, working, etc. when she’d like to be knitting.”

I know the future will hold time for knitting, but I’m trying to sneak in as much as I can while I do other things. So my space here has been quiet. And I’m probably 1000 entries behind on my blog roll…I don’t think I’ll have the time, eye sight, or brain space to go all the way back.

Not to fret or worry. Just knit.

Just thought I’d say hello and I will be back. With pictures 🙂

Until then…

❤
Jenna

 

#MarshmallowFluffKAL

What is better on a super cold day than all the woolly goodness you can manage snuggled up around your neck??

Shame to say that as a knitter, I have plenty of cozy neck wear…however, nothing that I would count as “Marshmallow Fluff-like Clouds” of wool. This had to be remedied immediately!

Enter Bonny at bonnyknits.com…with the wonderful idea to do a Mini Knit-Along 🙂

Here’s her post about it: Bulky Cowl Knit-Along

We’ve decided on the Marshmallow Fluff pattern by Sarah Kraly. It’s a super cute free pattern on Ravelry. It’s cast on using a provisional cast-on, knit flat, then seamed using a 3-needle bind off. Sounds like a great way to practice some useful skills I don’t use as often as I would like…plus I think I’d like to Kitchener the piece together…I’m imagining it as one giant toe of the sock!

I’m trying to decided between 2 skeins of Malabrigo Rasta I picked up at Vogue Knitting Live Chicago in 2013…that was a crazy, 1-day adventure that included riding the Mega-Bus at all hours of the night and day, trekking through Chicago from Union Station to Millennium Park and back…stopping to buy yarn & take a class…Deep Dish Pizza at Giordano’s and finally another trip and daylight savings time to arrive back in Louisville, Kentucky at maybe 4:00am???? Truly a 24 hour adventure that my wonderful husband accompanied me on…and with a fantastic haul of yarny treasures.

Back to the Rasta…I’ve got a skein of Natural…

And a skein of Leguna Negra…

What do you think? Maybe a little of both??

Anyway…I do hope you’ll join in the fun! You can keep up with our progress right here on the blog or at Bonny’s blog (here) or on our Instagram accounts (@hardknitlife & @bonnyknitsforyou)…if you’d like to play along, be sure to tag your post with #MarshmallowKAL or #MarshmallowFluffKAL

❤
Jenna

Days of Doubt

Let me start first with a little knitting…

The blanket is passing the halfway point…I’m not sure how many more stripes I’ll put on.

And I started an Antler Toque for a friend’s dad who was recently diagnosed with Lymph node cancer and has started chemo. He’s nervous to lose his hair and I though a hat made out of some soft Inca Gold would be a cozy gift.

The cables are fun…just crossing 2 stitches by 2 stitches and great practice for cabling without a cable needle…I used this tutorial on Ysolda’s blog. Easier with pointy needles for sure 🙂

When I knit, my brain seems to slip into a meditative state…rolling thoughts over, good or bad and here is where I’ve landed lately.

Funny how these days of doubt come in waves. I’ve wrestled a bit with actually writing about something beyond just knitting. And this is the internet. Do I really want to go there?

Maybe I’ll just dip my toe a bit. Doubt. Something I think everyone wrestles with. I think it’s part of being human. Lives ebb and flow as does happiness, productivity, and doubt. I like to think of these things all as different colored liquids in a big jar…being sloshed around and as one rises the others may fall a bit. For instance when happiness and productivity wane, doubt has a tendency to bubble up to the top.

When it bubbles too high and the thoughts reach the conscious part of my brain and leak from my lips, it’s devastating. No one wants to hear that little mean voice I hear about how I can’t do one thing or I’m not good enough to do another. Part of the process of pushing the doubt back to the bottom is acknowledging it. Then I have to form a plan of action to really sink it back down. Remind myself that I can do something when I put the work in…tackling the task.

At least that’s what I tell myself. I think in the last couple of years, even when I make a plan and start to work the plan, I lose the oomph to finish and the doubt returns more quickly and with even more of a punch…”see, you can’t do this.”

So here is where I rest. On the cusp of formulating a plan to tackle a thought of “I’m not good enough” and “I can’t do this” and “I’m not supposed to be this.” The plan is going to involve some accountability and effort…and not just half way. That’s scary. Putting all of it into it and what if…what if it doesn’t work out? Then here we are again with a little more of a sting…

I think this is part of being human. Thoughts? I’d love to hear what you think, how you deal…

❤
Jenna

When did Wednesday get here??

Really? I am really, really struggling with trying to remember what day it is…and I’m getting inspired by all the awesome posts I’ve been reading and the weather is cold. Like real cold. It’s 50 degrees Fahrenheit here with 20 mph winds…a perfect opportunity to wrap up in my knits.

Also it’s Thursday. I didn’t even know it was Wednesday and now it’s Thursday?? I know that it’s been pretty quiet here. I was traveling. My husband and I went down to Louisiana for a wedding between two of our college friends. Then, while we were down there, we stopped over and spent some time with my parents and my brother and my darling new baby niece 🙂 Did I mention she is the cutest??

Anyway, it’s been quiet because when I post, I sit down and do it on the day I’m going to post. Sometimes I make notes ahead of time about what I think I want to talk about, but usually I just wing it. I know some very organized bloggers out there take the time to set up posts to publish when they are out of town. I am not quite there yet.

Truthfully, I have missed posting, but I have also missed reading posts from others. When we got back in town Tuesday, I did spend some time trying to catch up on posts and podcasts. I still have a ton to read and I spent a good amount of time yesterday doing the same. I don’t generally like to sit down and post unless I’m caught up on all my reading, but if I don’t go ahead and post I’m afraid it won’t happen for a few more days, and I got this awesome package in the mail that I just HAVE to talk about. So I made some popcorn and poured a coke over some ice just to get my brain going.

You know how something happens in your life, and you, being a knitter, feel the urge to knit something for the happening, and you search all over Ravelry to find the perfect pattern and you scour your stash and you (slightly) obsess over the whole process until you have something on the needles? Yes? Well that happens to me quite often. I feel like all sorts of life events call for special hand-knits, hand knits, handknits? I don’t know, I like the hyphen. My most recent life event was the birth of my first niece.

When I learned I would be an aunt, I searched for the perfect pattern and yarn to make the best blanket for her. That’s my normal, go-to baby project for people I really like who are procreating and give me lots of notice 🙂 Otherwise, they get hats. So for Payton, I knit this slipped stitch baby blanket in mercerized cotton. I know I’ve blogged a good deal about it.

I absolutely love the way it turned out. And to make life even better? Payton uses it all the time! How do I know? I get pictures of her and I see it in the background or wrapped around her or underneath her…it’s being used. My brother even called to ask how to wash the thing. That’s a positive sign 🙂

After she was born, I went to see her and hand deliver the blanket. That’s when it hit me. My normal, go-to baby gift just wasn’t going to be enough for me. She’s so adorable and deserves all the hand-knits I can whip up before she outgrows the small amount of yarn it would take to knit said hand-knits in a reasonable amount of time. This is when the Ravelry scouring search of suitable baby knits commenced. I was thinking socks and a hat…that just didn’t seem like enough.

So I’m going to gift those to our neighbors who also happen to have a darling 3 month old baby girl who hasn’t received any of my hand-knit love 🙂 I have been toying around with the idea for a sweater for a while. When I was on my Ravelry hunt, I came across Ysolda Teague’s pattern Wee Envelope.

I didn’t purchase it right away, but the little things has been marinating in my mind for a while. I thought about finding yarn for it while I was at VKL, but decided to wait and buy from a local shop so if I got stuck with the pattern, I could go in for help. I even talked to my mom about the pattern and how we both wanted to knit sweaters for Payton…see what new babies do???

Enter fate.

On the Friday night of VKL, my mom and I were taking our laps in the Marketplace. Our brains were swimming with all the lovely colors, soft skeins, and gorgeous finished projects that adorned all the booths. Then we stumbled upon PostStitch. My mom was the one who truly reeled us in. She wanted to knit a row on their scarf.

The lovely ladies, Amy & Megan, are a mother-daughter team who came up with a great idea to deliver knitting projects with all the fixin’s right to your front door. We all got to talking and Megan showed me the LittleStitch kit for this month.

It is the Wee Envelope pattern, knit in some super squishy Aspen by Luna Grey Fiber Arts. Included? The most adorable and ironic buttons.

Cherries. Ironic? It is my maiden name, and sweet baby niece, Payton Elizabeth Cherry.

It couldn’t have been more perfect. It was my only purchase Friday night because I couldn’t pass it up. To celebrate, Mom and I took a fun selfie in their booth.

And it was on my doorstep when we got home from the airport on Tuesday. Just in time for NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater in a Month).

I think I need to wind some yarn and get going 🙂

Until then,

v’s & bumps,

Jenna

 

Thoughts about VKLive Classes!!

So I’m sure after my last post, you are wondering why I didn’t have as much time to shop and buy all the things (other than my stated plan). With the package we purchased included 3 classes and Mom and I wanted to take full advantage of the awesome ladies who were teaching all weekend.

First up when we got there on Friday, we took a Hand-Dyeing Class taught my Rhonda Fargnoli. She seemed very knowledgeable and very into the yarn business. She gave some great tips for where to buy her natural dyes, but I wish we were given more direct instructions on how to prepare and set up our own dyeing at home. Ce la vie.

We did have a good time dyeing our mini-skeins with a few different dyes. There were 5 different colors and one was indigo and one was cochineal. We spent the afternoon dipping and painting and pouring dye all over our mini skeins. Here is Mom at work.

The room we were in at the Palmer House Hilton had some really, really yellow lighting.

We took them up to the room on styrofoam plates and laid them out to dry.

When we got home, I rinsed them with some white vinegar and hung them up to dry over the sink.

Now, what to make??? I need a scale so I can know how much of each color I have…maybe I can make a magic ball with these for a big fun project?

The next class I took was Getting Your Lace On taught by the lovely Laura Nelkin. Let me start by saying that I have never knit one of Laura’s patterns. Each time that one of her designs have caught my eye, I go and look it up and notice how complicated it is. This is not a bad thing, but up until about 6 months ago, I stuck to simple knits. Nothing too complicated, nothing I have to count…then I did the Follow Your Arrow KAL (on my own time because KAL time restrictions seem to be terrible for me) and the whole “simple only knitting” flew right out the window.

Laura started off the class by sharing many of her samples with us. She passed around so many lovely things, talked about what Lace knitting actually is and isn’t, and had us cast on 10 stitches.

And knit a few rows. We played around with some increases and had a very good discussion on what a “yarnover” actually is and should look like (I guess I had not been paying much attention to my knitting in the past). Fun fact: A yarn0ver should in fact be a piece of yarn over the needle, but the leg riding in front of the needle still needs to be the right leg! Amazing. Next time you do a yarnover, check it out.

We then played around with some decreases. Her instructions were great. She talked about when designers would use each one and which ones were appropriate for double sided lace (eeeeek!). She was incredibly patient and kept us all interested.

We touched on how to read charts for one-sided lace, lace in the round, and two-sided lace. We even hit (quickly) on blocking. The whole 3 hours was jam-packed full of great information. It really made me think about my knitting and gave me the confidence to tackle a few of Laura’s (complicated) designs. She was gracious enough to even do a quick selfie with me after class!!

Sorry that my quality isn’t great 😦 That’s what I get for using the iPhone I guess. I am definitely a Laura fan after such a great experience. I highly recommend you check out her blog and her new book, Knockout Knits, (which is full of info about the techniques used as well as the patterns).

Mom took a class from Amy Detjen about Two-Color Knitting during this time. I will have to get with her about what she thought. I took a class from Amy last year about Cables…also awesome 🙂

PS: I am wearing my Whispers top!

Our next class was in the afternoon. It was Entrelac with Rosemary Drysdale. She is the author the books Entrelac and Entrelac 2. Another note about my experience with Entrelac, I had never done this either! Rosemary is a hoot and reminds me of my parents’ German neighbor who is very matter-of-fact. She had us jump right in to try our hand at Entrelac. Throughout the class, she offered great tips on how to pick up stitches and she showed off several of her beautiful designs. I was so busy knitting, I did not have time to take pictures of my progress. Here is my swatch.

Overall, the classes were definitely worth the time and money we spent at Vogue Knitting Live. Both this year and last, have left me with a great experience. I will say that one thing I will do before taking classes at a big event like this is to do some research about the teacher before hand. Look them up on Ravelry and see what some of their work is like, maybe see if they have been talked about by other knitters who have taken classes from them.

Anyway, definitely something I would do again 🙂 I need to get my needles going so I can cast on something new from Knockout Knits!!!

v’s & bumps,

Jenna

 

 

 

Thoughtful Thursday

I don’t know if its the time of year or the place I am in my life, but I’ve been feeling pretty thoughtful lately. Mostly about my own personal situation, but there has been a good deal of thinking about knitting. In fact, Angela over at KnitLuck started her own video blog last week and ran Episode 2 this week. If you’ve got about 20 minutes (or even if you don’t) I would drop in over there and watch her video. It’s a great opportunity to “visit” with a fellow knitter and do a little mindless knitting in the process. I found it incredibly honest and endearing. But, it also got me thinking about my own knitting identity.

In this second episode, she talks about being an Obsessed Knitter. Angela describes her signs that she (or someone else) is an Obsessed Knitter. Here is what I gathered:
1. Finding social comfort in being around other knitters, even more so than being around other people
2. While watching TV or movies, taking notes on the knitted garments and searching for them online
3. Always knitting
4. Planning your life around knitting, like housekeeping, storage, and shops to visit while on trips or vacation
5. Seeking people out in public who are wearing knit garments and talking with them
6. Feeling naked if you don’t have knitting with you
7. Writing about knitting

These are her criteria beyond just having lots of yarn, needles, projects, and books about knitting or fiber. As I listened to her and knitted, I was compelled to also stop and write down notes and my thoughts on her theory of being an obsessed knitter.

1. Since moving to 2 different cities in the last 2 years, the first people I have sought out socially have been knitting groups through Ravelry and Meetup.com.
2. I don’t necessarily take notes on TV knits, but when I am out shopping or just looking, I am usually drawn to knit items. I have taken photos of scarves and sweaters in stores to determine their construction. I might have even counted the stitches of the “cast-on” edge. I won’t buy knits in the stores if I determine that I can make it.
3. I am always knitting. I don’t just sit and not knit.
4. I do plan my life (somewhat) around knitting. I have a knitting group I meet with on Thursday nights and therefore will not make any other plans for that night. I do have designated storage in my home for my hobby. I create the Knit Nest whenever I settle to really work in my home. I also do look up shops before trips to determine if they will be open and how close they are to where I am going so I can pop in for a visit. And this year, I am taking a trip to Vogue Knitting Live in Chicago. A trip just for knitting.
5. I will stop people in public if it looks like they are wearing something hand knit and ask them about it.
6. There is always some project traveling with me in my purse. If that’s not enough, I do stow my Never Ending 1st Project in my car for red-lights, trains, and the occasional draw bridge (when I lived in Louisiana).
7. I do write about knitting. I have a whole blog devoted to it. I even use a fair amount of my journal to write about knitting.

This brings me to an understanding about myself, that yes, I am an Obsessed Knitter, but what is my knitting identity beyond being Obsessed?

I think part of my knitting identity is about creating things from scratch. Pia at Noget Uldent just wrote a guest post over at Not Your Average Zoe called Ad fontes. This literally means “back to the fountain” or “back to the source.” Pia talks about being someone who finds value in creating things from scratch and in her post, invites the reader to think about their next step back to the source in all their endeavors. Creating from scratch is one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen. Taking simple ingredients and turning them into something delicious is so enticing to me. I think this is also the pull of knitting. Taking simple string and sticks and creating garments. Soft, warm, beautiful garments.

So I’m an Obsessed Knitter who enjoys creating things from scratch.

I will continue to stew on this in my brain to determine the other factors of my personal knitting identity, but I think this scratch thing is significant.

Thank you for letting me share my thoughts. Happy Thursday 🙂

v’s & bumps,

Jenna