| Author |
 Topic  |
|
Wovenflame
Seriously Hooked
Canada
812 Posts |
 Posted - 02/10/2005 : 6:13:38 PM
|
Every completed project I see....whether they be my own or those belonging to others, in magazines, online, etc.....they all inspire me to make changes, learn, improve, or personalize the NEXT project. I'll take something I have seen and add to it, or take away, or reshape it in some way to make it original and unique. It is this constant creative challenge that keeps me motivated and knitting. Sometimes the ideas start piling up TOO quickly and I am unable to bring them all to life.
-Marlene-
Come visit me at: http://wovenflame.blogspot.com/
"First is to shift the perception. If you learn to look at something differently, you will change it in an instant. The point of perception from which you view any situation determines your entire reality." - The Group |
 |
|
|
luv2knit944
Permanent Resident
USA
1789 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2005 : 03:19:47 AM
|
Waited too long to respond to this topic. What more can I say?You all spoked for me.
Chris said all I think of,but couldn't have said it has good.
Pauline |
|
|
|
WendyB
Permanent Resident
3262 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2005 : 08:18:40 AM
|
Seeing knitting and quilting friends playing with patterns and colors feeds it (I guess seeing them get creative inspires me). The monotony of sitting in doctors' offices feeds it...I never aspired to being a bump on a log.
The social aspect feeds it. It's a real ice-breaker. I love the feel of the yarn and the calming feeling I get from knitting (even patiently ripping and redoing at times). I also love thinking about how stitches and patterns came about in the first place - fascinating. It's personal, tactile, creative, meditative. I'm an avid gardener (perennials, mostly) and the colors of the Spring and Summer flowers and the foliage inspire me to echo those colors in something I'm making.
Jewles, that's great that your sons are learning and that your youngest is so into it. |
|
|
|
probablyjane
Permanent Resident
United Kingdom
1227 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2005 : 09:00:59 AM
|
For me there is more to it than the creative process alone. It's a thread that binds me to the memory and traditions of my mother and grandmother who taught me, knitted jumpers for me and encouraged me to create them for myselves. It's the connection betweem me and the people I love, knowing that they are wearing something that I put time and trouble into and was made especially for them. My partner who is far away wears the gansey and socks I made for him as a way of staying close and when we are together loves to watch me knit as it takes him to a safe, warm loving place. Making the gansey came from his Cornish heritage leading me to research the traditional methods and materials and find a stitch pattern that came from his ancestral village. All this and the time spend making it are what he wears every day, warmth born of love. The baby blankets I made for my sister's children that she covers herself in when she is alone so that she feels loved and safe, the mouse head blanket my nephew won't be parted from, sitting at the foot of my sister's bed when she woke up sore and scared after the birth of my nephew and having her say that seeing me at the foot of her bed knitting made her sure that everything would be alright. Making rainbow socks for my best friend just because she's feeling stressed and tired and needs cheering up.
And for me - loads of groovy hats and snazzy socks because they make me happy and brighten up a rather grey old London right now!
I'll stop rambling now - made me quite emotional
Jane
|
|
|
|
mmritter_cat@yahoo.com
Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2005 : 10:56:23 AM
|
| Color, texture, reaching for a new definition. As I teach knitting and flamework my own glass buttons, I get ideas from mistakes and from unexpected results. Deb Menz's book "Color in Spinning" is driving me nuts with all the endless possibilities that add even more dimension to basic knit stitch pattern, clothing design, and how can a button be colored and shaped to make the design creation even more exponential. I find myself transferring glass techniques and designs to fabric design and visa versa. I find other people's loss of function when presented with nonbalance, be it in the form of too little yarn, unexpected results in shape due to pattern interpretation challenges, or receiving yarns that are similar but not perfectly matched, the kinds of things that present personal challenges to me to make something functional and/or pleasingly embellished. Right now I'm in a mode for challenges and find it very difficult to focus on the established pattern or design. I am presently learning lots from associates that can take such a thing as a simple scarf and fling it in different ways to create novel drape or environmental aura to the base garment. How do I build more on these draping ideas? So many ideas, so little time... |
|
|
|
mokey
Permanent Resident
15375 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2005 : 11:01:14 AM
|
Chocolate! It is also a the only portable time killer I have found. Cross stitching is a pain to do while waiting, with the chart, needles, threads. Knitting is pretty much the only thing I've found that I can toss in a bag and just pick up, wherever, whenever. I also believe it is literally in my DNA; some of my ancestors were the court embroiderers for the Austro-Hungarian Empire. I have an ancestor(just call her a cousin) who was a nun and specialised in restoration of needlework done with human hair. I've had relatives on both sides go to needlework schools - for a living. I might go years without doing needlework, be it knitting or stitching, but it's in me. At the old farts home I'll be the one mimeing knitting!
"I firmly believe the Bible is the misinterpreted word of God." Mokey
www.femiknits.blog-city.com |
|
|
|
claudiam
Chatty Knitter
USA
144 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2005 : 11:03:18 AM
|
quote:
It is also relaxing for me and something I can do anywhere, unlike sewing, quilting, painting, and other forms of creativity.
Like homebodyknits said, I can carry my knitting anywhere I also like to teach knitting. Knitting gives you a realistic perspective on life, nothing is so bad that you can't unknit (Tink) or Frog and start all over. I look at knitting like happy accidents. I thought of myself as a screw-up for a long time and in knitting I can make things successfully. Nothing is wrong in knitting that can't be fixed its not right-handed its not left-handed as long as you make the stitches correctly its all good. Plus its relaxing, takes me out of the stuff that can really bug me. I love to knit.
Claudiam |
|
|
|
Sketcher
Gabber Extraordinaire
597 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2005 : 12:06:08 PM
|
I loved mokey's reply that chocolate feeds her knitting. I laughed out loud and almost spit out my Chocolate Kiss.
Love is what feeds/inspires my knitting. I love making things for my friends and family - amulets against the cold of nature (human nature as well as environmental). I love feeling the fibers, seeing their colors, becoming a timeless moment in the march of time. |
|
|
|
Knittinit
Chatty Knitter
USA
120 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2005 : 12:13:10 PM
|
For me knitting is therapy...it brings more balance to my life, and calms my mind when I feel like I might say or do the wrong thing, i.e. something I will regret later. I've noticed a pattern of getting extremely creative when I am going through a crisis (only at the time I didn't know why I was being so creative!). When I went through a beading craze I was having a lot of marriage difficulties, and now I'm getting balanced again after spending a lot of physical and emotional energy caring for my father after a terrible motorocycle accident that left him blind and an amputee. When there aren't words for how I feel knitting somehow takes care of it. I also love it when people comment on my creations, they are a reflection of me, and I am a reflection of my creator.
Brenda
Healdsburg, CA
Dreams of finished solar house & my own alpaca & angora to knit up. |
|
|
|
SerMom
Permanent Resident
Canada
6412 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2005 : 12:34:45 PM
|
Like Lissa, I'm a frustrated artist. I've never been handy, or crafty. I never stuck with anything long enough to get even passably good at it, always assuming that I would never get any good at it. So, imagine my surprise, when on the third or fourth go, I suddenly discovere that I was good at something - knitting.
It's my one and only creative endeavor (not counting cooking, but that's drudgery too much of the time). I only wish I had discovered it earlier in my life. It feels like I've wasted 40 yrs by not knitting! 
Barbara
Remember, we're self-selecting!
My photos: I've gone back to yahoo!
My blog:
|
|
|
|
levis_mama
Chatty Knitter
USA
188 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2005 : 1:21:05 PM
|
for me, it is the act of creation that keeps me inspired. It's nothing akin to the big 7 days, but it's a simple and tangible reminder of that divine spark that lies within each of us.
StephanieR
A priest, a rabbi, and a minister all walk into a stich-n-beach... |
|
|
|
Diane
Gabber Extraordinaire
366 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2005 : 3:08:06 PM
|
| I do it for many of the reasons stated here, creativity, therapy, etc. Also, I love the idea of having something that will be with me, hopefully, as long as I live. My parents didn't have hobbies to speak of, and I think it adds so much to your life and can prolong life. When you make a beautiful scarf or baby blanket or sweater, it is a piece of you that lives on. And it doesn't matter how old or young you are, what party you are in, what race or religion. Down the road, when no one cares about my professional opinions anymore, I plan to still be knitting! |
|
|
|
Patience
Permanent Resident
USA
1076 Posts |
Posted - 02/12/2005 : 5:46:43 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by probablyjane
For me there is more to it than the creative process alone. It's a thread that binds me to the memory and traditions......
I feel the exact same way Jane, but the thread that binds me to knitting must be a memory far back in time, or in the recesses of my memory. I always had a deep desire to learn to knit but waited way too long to learn. I was in my 30's and was walking past a yarn shop which was the sweetest little converted house with a second floor and 4 extremely talented ladies who owned and ran it and always offered hot tea and a warm, friendly smile along with their ever present help. 
Imagine my delight when, having had the immediate feeling that this was the moment, I walked in and asked if they gave knitting lessons. After a resounding YES, I was off and running with the most amazing teacher it was my privilege to know. Her name was Molly and I swear, there wasn't a thing she couldn't do, nor a problem she couldn't solve. What a woman!
I'm not sure if anyone further back than my grandmother knit or not, but I've always gravitated toward this wonderful, creative outlet, and it serves me well. I feel linked to the people in the past that have been so blessed to be able to knit without patterns, to create new and unusual techniques, and to pass this knowledge onto all of us that have followed. I don't consider myself anywhere near that talented, but I keep wanting to learn more and try more, and I guess that's what it's all about for me.
Hugs, Patience
P.S. Marfa, thanks for giving me the chance to tap into these wonderful, warm memories. |
|
|
|
IsleoClare@aol.com
USA
Posts |
Posted - 02/13/2005 : 10:06:56 AM
|
| "My job is intense and devoid of color." Knitting helps me to relax, it's meditation with needles and yarn! Art work and the use of colors inspire me, I'm just a frustrated artist! |
|
|
|
englishtch
Gabber Extraordinaire
USA
400 Posts |
Posted - 02/13/2005 : 11:52:45 AM
|
Like so many others, I satisfy my need to create through knitting, but I also seem to have a need to handle fibrous stuff, whether it's yarn or fabric. It's almost primal; I can remember stroking doll clothes and fabric toys from a very early age. Of course, I grew up around women who sewed, knitted, crocheted, embroidered, etc.
And, knitting has helped me to understand why some people use beads, rosaries, etc. as an aid to prayer/meditation. Knitting occupies my hands which seems to allow my mind to focus more intensely. |
|
|
|
happyneedles
Seriously Hooked
USA
848 Posts |
Posted - 02/14/2005 : 4:19:54 PM
|
I have always loved fashion, as a child I played with barbie dolls and played imaginary games with my twin sister where we both acted out scenes wearing beautiful clothes which I even remember itemizing. When I discovered yarn I fell instanteously in love. I loved everything about yarn, the colors, the textures and the endless possibilities. I love looking at knitting mags for fabulous designs and often create my own. The plus side of knitting for me is the endless hours of relaxation and pleasure, and a unique, beautiful wardrobe. Sue
~Knitting is a gift you give to yourself~ |
|
|
|
azknitter
Honorary Angel
5539 Posts |
Posted - 02/14/2005 : 6:48:33 PM
|
| I love knitting because it keeps me "in the now", it's the only thing that truly commands my attention every moment. It teaches me patience and focus. I like the process more than I care about the end product. I'm usually kind of sad when I get to the end of a project because I enjoyed handling the yarns and needles so much. |
|
|
|
Purls Girl
Warming Up
80 Posts |
Posted - 02/17/2005 : 8:09:24 PM
|
| This is such a rewarding thread to read because so many of you had really thought about the essense of this activity. Most have said it better that I am able to express. I find one more thing, and that is the simple enjoyment I get in the visual aspect of seeing my hands with their scars, sinews, age spots, etc., holding the needles and the yarn. There is something so uniquely human about the interaction of hand and mind. Maybe others have felt it watching their hands make music or work with wood; for me its the fiber thing. |
|
|
|
hotmamagrace
Warming Up
USA
72 Posts |
Posted - 02/17/2005 : 10:43:20 PM
|
| my pain, my joy, my love; all these experiences and emotions fuel my knitting. it's the thought of my loved one enjoying something that i created for them in a such a practical way; it's the ease by which my hands and the needles and the fibers work together. it's better than a massage for me. |
|
|
|
pjkite
Permanent Resident
1198 Posts |
Posted - 02/18/2005 : 07:13:17 AM
|
I have enjoyed this topic so much! I agree with everyone who has posted to some degree, but rather than say an enthusiastic "me too", I'll elaborate a bit.
Everything in my life fuels my knitting and spinning. My job, which is challenging, but rather sterile, makes me long for soft, fuzzy, lacey things; so I spindle or knit during breaks and lunches. My teenage sons send me in search of soul-soothing peace and quiet. My 21-year-old somewhat dramatic daughter tends to fuel marathon spinning and knitting sessions! My DH enjoys having me nearby knitting while he's driving, working around the house, or cross-stitching himself. Wanting something special for the grandchildren (aged 2 1/2 and 6 months) has stretched my comfort zone - I'd never knit for babies before!
I knit gifts for co-workers who are mystified and impressed and extremely appreciative. I knit for my mother, who due to RA can no longer knit and crochet for herself and loves what I make. I knit for my FIL, who cried when I gave him a pair of hand-knit socks a few years ago. I even knit for my MIL, with whom I've had a rather rocky relationship through the years.
A part of myself goes into everything I knit. Seeing a FO on someone years later usually fills me with a sort of wondering admiration for my own abilities! It also can be rather disconcerting, as everything I was experiencing at the time comes flooding back into my memory. I have tried several times during my life to maintain the sort of journal I did when I was in my teens and twenties, but I can't seem to stick with it. So I think of my knitting and weaving and spinning as my journal. The FOs serve the same purpose, I think, and aren't as susceptible to snooping by nosey children!
Our lives hold so many facets! All of us wear so many, and sometimes wildly different, hats. Something must hold our psyches together and keep us centered and at peace within ourselves. For me, that's the feel of fiber or yarn slipping through my fingers. Yes, it's probably a sort of addiction. But, according to a psychiatrist friend, addictions aren't always harmful; sometimes they're productive coping mechanisms in our lives. So I'll continue to let fiber slip gently through my fingers, meditating on the daily tears and laughter, adversities and triumphs of my life.
Pamela Kite
East Tennessee
http://fiberlife.blogspot.com/
|
|
|
|
Topic |
|
|
|
| Knitter's Review Forums |
© 2001-2013 Knitter's Review |
|
|
|
|
Topic Locked
