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marfa
Permanent Resident
USA
1875 Posts |
 Posted - 02/18/2005 : 4:18:35 PM
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How do.
Wow, you all have knocked me out w/your responses to my question. I have come back to this thread frequently to see the new posts - the emotions, the love, the tenderness, the strength, the beauty - your writings have been (& continue to be) amazing.
Many of you have touched upon some of the things that affect & feed my knitting. One area that has been very important to me is the camraderie I feel through the knitting community of friends I have.
Reading the Knitter's Review Newsletter, before the Forum began, & the affect that Clara's beautiful words had on me was profound. The idea of knitting again (I had taken most but not all of a beginner's class but never completed a project) began to come over me as I read & re-read the Newsletter each week. Clara's "voice" as a writer seemed to beckon me to "Come on in - the water's perfect!" or in this case, so to speak, the yarn is perfect.
I returned to the great yarn shop, the Tangled Web (in Philadelphia), where I took my intro class, signed up for another class, began to knit & here I am ^..^
The folks I have met here in the Forum & in my own city through knitting have been incredible. I have been able to learn from them, be inspired by them, laugh w/them, have fun, grow as people & as knitters & maybe even impart something of my own every great once in a while.
Through all of this I feel that I have become a stronger & more creative person via my knitting & via the people I am lucky enough to call my friends.
Thanks again - your posts have been awesome.
Martha
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PattiG
Permanent Resident
1119 Posts |
Posted - 02/18/2005 : 5:50:41 PM
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I'm in the Lissa/Barbara camp. My father was a brilliant artist. His paintings adorn the walls in my house. I always wondered why I did not inherit his talent. Then I found knitting!
Natalie's book, Wild Mind, is also good!
PattiG
http://redvelvetcake.typepad.com
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PatriciaS
Gabber Extraordinaire
USA
537 Posts |
Posted - 02/19/2005 : 7:17:44 PM
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Truly beautiful discussion. Thanks to all.
I am still in the process of discovering the answer to both parts of this question (what inspires me for my knitting / what does knitting do for me?). As I keep finding myself saying, I'm newly BACK to knitting, tho in a sense I think I've really come to it for the first time. Oh, yeah, I knit a few things in late 60s/early 70s, and then again in the 80s, and now I'm back to it again, but this time really is different. The other times I put needles and yarn together and made garments. I got from A to B as quickly as possible, much the way I approach sewing. I don't LIKE to sew, but I like to have clothes inexpensively, and I love working with fabrics. If I could skip from design to finished product without all the stuff in the middle, I would in a minute.
This time I think I'm KNITTING, if that makes any sense. I am appreciating it more for the process. I am enjoying it more for the process. I am letting the process work ME sometimes, maybe (still feeling my way on this).
At first, and sometimes still, I fight a little rule in my head that says I can't knit "until my work is done," nevermind that my work is NEVER done, or that I do allow myself to do other things before "my work" is done. Shrug. I dunno where that comes from, but it's counterproductive and profoundly anti-art/anti-craft.
What inspires me? I love looking at patterns -- from the 40s and earlier, right on thru the present. I could look at these all day long, every day, it seems.
I love clothing, especially warm clothing. I love comfortable, nurturing clothing -- which certainly applies to most knitted garments. I love textiles in general for their sheer sensuality , and yarn is among the most sensual, and so of course are knitted garments.
Color and texture inspire and drive me. And I love (crave!!) anything embossed, from paper stationery to Aran knit garments.
What does knitting do for me? It's an outlet for my creativity. It's something "productive" to do while I'm watching fluff on TV. IMy focus on knitting and acquring a yarn stash and a fairly large vintage knitting magazine and pattern collection are helping me deal with some depression that came from somewhere. And I'm finding it soothing and meditative as well. I'm really still learning about what knitting does for me.
I find that I often want to knit a few rows soon after I'm up in the mornings, and I'm trying to let myself do that. In fact, I'm trying to let myself pick up the knitting WHENEVER the mood strikes, and I find that there are times during the day when I just want to knit a few rows. Myabe in some ways it's taking the place of a smoke break (I quit on Dec. 10). That'd be cool if true. But in any case, it's centering and calming, and that's quite beautiful and VERY helpful.
Centering and calming, while making something creative and beautiful of my own choosing, and working with color and texture and sensual fabric. Wow. Who could ask for anything more? |
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Marg in Mirror
Permanent Resident
Canada
3204 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2005 : 1:19:24 PM
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This is a wonderful topic!
I too have read Writing Down the Bones -- and other similar tomes, including Annie Dillard who also waxes poetic...I am an occasional writer (lots of writing, little courage!), a recent quilter, a long-time x-stitcher and a longer-time knitter, now dabbling in fabric arts/painting etc. What feeds this? Two things:
1. Colour! And texture -- in fabric, fibre and floss...  ; and
2. My hands! There's a feeling I get in my fingers that tells me, "I want to write now!" or "I just have to pick up the knitting needles!" or "It's time to cut some more stripsets for that quilt!" 
It's hard to articulate, but harder to resist, so when at all possible, I try to go to the craft to which they are calling me and just enjoy!
TLWKOTB
http://knitsonthebus.blogspot.com |
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lella
Permanent Resident
9697 Posts |
Posted - 02/23/2005 : 12:10:53 PM
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I have to say teaching knitting and wearing a sweater or socks or someone else wearing a sweater, hat, mittens, or socks that I've made. It keeps my knitting going. Also, seeing that first sock that DD4 made up on my blog and reliving those moments, or the scarf that arrived yesterday from the newest knitter in the family for her Daddy and his smile when he wrapped it around his neck for the first time. That all keeps me going.
lella [img]http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/animal/1/animal18.gif[/img]
http://zippiknits.blogspot.com/ |
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knitchick1223
New Pal
USA
15 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2005 : 8:46:10 PM
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When my daughter in college calls me and tells me that 10 people asked where they could get a hat, scarf, poncho etc...like the one she has on and she replies "you can't...my mom made it just for me" :))) !
Knitting with very tactile yarns that feel sumptious while knitting them up!
Melanie |
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