Ode to the craft

I don't know when it happened officially but I am a crafter. Perhaps it is the product of being raised by a mother who believes that creative expression is key in a child's development. That being said I believe a summary of my craft history is in order.

Some of my earliest memories is of being able to color, to draw (I didn't draw near as much as my brother though) and to play with paper, and glitter, and feathers, and things I could glue to paper or anything really (sorry mom, but you gave me the tools). My mom was always teaching me how to do something cool and creative which was a result of her upbringing. When I was 5 I remember I learned how to cross stitch. Of course it was on one of those 'cheaters' cross stitch kits, the ones that are printed on cloth, but I didn't care, I was creating something. My cross stitch got better and better and by the time I was twelve I was knitting counted cross stitch on the same level as my mother. During this time as well my grandmother tried to teach me crochet. I got it kinda but it didn't captivate me quite the way I wanted to. As a typical bratty teenager I wanted to be better and faster than my mother. To accomplish this I planed and stitched a beautiful and complicated picture (literally) to send to the State Fair in Perry for youth competition. That year I won first place and best of show in youth textiles. I was very proud of myself and planned another project for the next year. I won first place that year again. After what to me seemed to be two very quick and easy victories I got bored with cross stitch. I didn't feel challenged anymore. I wanted to be challenged by something. Something new. I tried crochet but I never felt that I could move past the basics. I wanted to try sewing but I never got around to it.

I didn't do much crafting till I got into my freshman year of college. During my freshman year of college I was depressed. I was thinking I had made a mistake of going to school, I didn't really know anyone at school (I'm actually a really shy person when I'm around strangers). I no longer was taking piano lessons so other than school work I didn't have anything to do! For Easter my mom wanted to buy me something as a gift (to go with my basket full of candy) and I decided on a learn to knit book, needles (size #8, I still have them), and a skein of acrylic yarn (we all start out on something cheap so if it looks like crap, we didn't pay much). I tried it out and got casting on down as well as knit and purl, but I put it aside because I understood it but didn't at the same time. It was not until I was at Michael's and saw a book called Stitch N' Bitch that I was truly drawn into a world of needles, purling, yarn, and a craft that challenged me to the point that I was ready to cry. I bought the book simply because the patterns looked like fun. It didn't take me long to realize that the book would inspire me to make knitting not just a hobby, but part of my lifestyle. I hit the ground running, moving on from scarves to sweaters, socks, hats, gloves, handbags and everything else. I started buying books filled with patterns, I began stalking LionBrand.com, and the Yarn Harlot's blog (or eblo for Whitney). I found a world that was creative, challenging, and fun all at the same time. The needles felt right in my hands. Maybe it's from playing the piano so much that made the transition so easy (you use both your hands in knitting and playing the piano).

I haven't stopped knitting since I started. I've transitioned from cheap acrylic yarn (which still to this day serves a purpose) to nicer wool, silk, bamboo, mohair, and of course linen. I discovered the joy that is knitting with bamboo. I've knit with straight, circular, and double point needles. I've had people stop to ask me in the halls at school exactly what I'm doing and when I answer "making a sock" they always respond "I didn't know people actually made their own socks". I've read patterns that make my fingers ache and my head spin. I've read patterns that have made me laugh at the thought of someone actually making them. I started carrying a measuring tape in my purse for visualizations. I began scouring yarn stores for sales and new yarns. I've laughed at the trend of fuzzy yarn and the number of women who have asked me to teach them so they can learn to make those fuzzy scarves. I discovered knitpicks.com. The GREATEST source for affordable yarn, GOOD affordable yarn. I've looked through every knitting book at work (Barnes & Noble). I've read all of the Yarn Harlot's writings. I've declared myself a yarn whore and carried the title proudly. All of this brings me to my next thought.

I encounter a great number (a really scary number) of women who have no hobby. Not just a craft hobby ( even though it still amazes me and makes NO sense to me that some women do not craft in any shape or form, it is out there, you poor things) but no hobby at all. I am going to focus on the craft hobby since it's what I know best. The idea of someone NOT creating kinda freaks me out and it has me wondering why in vast numbers women don't craft. It cannot be because they are busy. I know mom's who are running a home, homeschooling, doing all kinds of stuff at a church or a homeschool group or something and they still do something crafty (yes I understand that knitting and crochet are indeed the MOST portable of such crafts). I myself am terribly busy yet I will knit on something a little here and there. Is it because women have been somehow convinced that crafting is too much of a domestic art? Are women who work full time not creating or working with their hands because they believe that it's too domestic for them? I've been called a little old lady, a grandma, and have been told on several occasions that "one day elise is going to be a wonderful stay at home mom". To this I say try my cooking. You will quickly, VERY quickly change your mind. I can make a pair of socks in no time but the kitchen is off limits to me (I tend to set things on fire). Crafts, expecially sewing, knitting, and crochet seem to have taken on this stereotype of being old lady things, things only homemakers have time for and can do. To this I dissagree. Textile and Fiber arts are for EVERYONE. Knitting soothes my soul (except when I screw up the decrease for the f*&@ing vest and have to rip the whole f*&@ing thing out to start over after knitting 6 inches on size 6 needles). And carries a connection to the past, the women before us who knit because they had to. They were knitting to keep their families warm to survive cold harsh winters in the days before central heating and air (yay technology!).

Knitting to me expresses my love, and my creativity, in each and every stitch. In the wool socks I make and give away, I made them with the hope that the wearer will have warm toes. I make scarves so that people will have warm necks and also look cute. There is no greater reward to my craft than when someone asks me "where did you get that" and I get to reply "I made it!". What I have made is one of a kind, it has part of me in it, it expresses a little part of my personality, with each and every stitch that passes on my needles, so a part of me is knit into my fabric. Part of my love, my fustration (wedding afghan, I still hate you), my day dreams (32 inches of garter stitch I HAVE to think of something other than my knitting), and myself. I knit for my peace of mind. I knit because I love to create. I knit because I want to be challenged ( I WILL knit a lace shawl). But mostly I knit because I love it. I love the click of the needles, the feel of the yarn between my fingers, the looks I get, the questions asked, and the gratitude of those who receive gifts. I am a knitter/crafter for life.

I owe it all to the women before me, most directly my mom, and both my grandmothers. Momma for teaching me cross stitch and being nice about me being better than you at such a young age and encouraging me to be crafty and creative and for keeping every craft supply known to man in our schoolroom. Mom (grandmother) for sewing, painting, and also encouraging me to be a crafty girl. Memaw for being the crochet wiz that I know I'll never ever beat.

And thanks to everyone who encourages creativity in the world. Creativity makes life a whole lot more interesting.