Knitting: its not just for Blue Hairs.

"The mind plays tricks on you. You play tricks back! It's like you're unraveling a big cable-knit sweater that someone keeps knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting..."

Remember that from Pee Wee's Big Adventure when he invites his friends over for a meeting to discuss the fact that his magical bike got stolen? I think about that quote a lot as I'm knitting a gigantic cotton blanket for myself.

Originally I asked Mom to do it for me, since I didn't know how to knit. Because Mom and I have the same disease where we actually finish about 2 out of every 50 art projects we begin, she suggested I do it myself. Luckily, she was able to teach me how to knit at our family reunion last weekend, so I'm well on my way of completing the first of nine panels in the blanket.

Nell at Knitch recommended the Mason Dixon Knitting book by Kay Gardner and Ann Shayne. At first I kind of had a mental block about becoming a person who would actually read a book about knitting, as opposed to just looking at the pictures. But the two writers are not only hilarious, but they know their stuff. I learned a lot from this book. I couldn't resist reading the whole thing, even the patterns I know I'll never use. And I was really glad to see that my pre-existing idea of knitting sub-culture being full of prissy old grammaws and uber-cool hipsters was totally wrong. Normal people knit all the time.

I love knitting because it's a portable art form, and I get to make practical things that people can actually use. I get to pick out pretty colors and textures. I can make the projects long and time consuming, or short and sweet. Plus I get to use math, and math is FUN.

Best of all, I can multi-task: Knit and listen to audiobooks. Knit in the car while somebody else is driving. Knit while I sit around waiting for my oil change at Cactus Car Wash. Knit through my attempts at meditation. Knit during the sales meetings at work. Just kidding, I'm not that brave. (Yet.) But you get the idea.

Anyway, I'm pretty excited about being a knitter, and even more excited that my CCGW friends also like to knit. Although we probably won't form our own CCGW knitting circle, you'll find a few of us knitting up a storm at Knitch on Friday nights.