Side to Side Garter Stitch Gloves
I've always been a solitary knitter, mostly because I'm just not really much of a joiner. My LYS has several lovely knitting groups that meet weekly, and I just learned of another Saturday group that functions more like a guild, teaching skills and working on specific projects. So, I"ve got all this opportunity coming at me for group activities...
Knitting with others -why that should be hard and uncomfortable for me is unfathomable. Knitting is not a "dirty" activity, or one that involves compromising positions, dubious characters, or the likelihood of public intoxication and humiliation. And yet, it still gives me s feeling similar to that I get before I've entered a yoga studio or exercise class - anxious, fearful of making mistakes. Probably really more fearful of not belonging, and not being liked. And the worst part of all - worrying that people won't like me, but will yet be too polite and too civilized to not simply tell me to leave and never return. I don't want to be tolerated - I'd rather be banished!
(Side note - I'm actually not very likely to be banished, anyway. I'm kind, courteous, helpful when I can be, sympathetic to nearly any and all plights, non-judgmental, except of myself. And I don't smell or have bad breath. At least that I know of - oh, no. What if I do smell, AND have bad breath, and everyone around me is simply too polite to let me know? Am I merely tolerated by those I love? It's an endless loop, I tell you, this sort of not measuring up...or at least being afraid of not measuring up...)
Back to knitting, and back to my fear of knitting with others. I thought I'd confront my fear head on, at least by taking a baby step. I took a knitting class with other people at my LYS last week. It was nice.
For 5 hours we worked on a really neat and simple pair of custom measured Side to Side Garter Stitch Gloves designed by Joan Goldstein, who also was our delightful teacher. The gloves were knit in Mountain Colors Hand Painted Yarns - (PO Box 156, Corvallis, MT 59828 )
Bearfoot, a 60% Superwash Wool, 25% Mohair, 15% Nylon, (350 yds/skein, Gauge 6-7 st/inc single, needle size 1-2, or 4-5 st/inc double strand, needle size 4-6. Approx 100g/skein, srp $22.00) in the Glacier Teal colorway. This yarn is very soft and knits up like a dream!
The gloves themselves are knit flat and the fingers (and all other seams) are grafted together as you turn and come to them. I'm a slow knitter, and I almost completed the palm of one glove - picture to come soon. In this state, the piece looks more like a relative of an octopus than a piece of apparel, but as the pinky finger is finished and then turned, then the side of the glove and top of the finger knit and grafted, it really does start to resemble a glove. I've set this aside for now to work on my daughter's sweater, and will pick it up again as soon as that is finished. Joan indicated that it took most people a few days to make both gloves, and I think that I'll have the pair complete with a week or so of evening knitting.
All in all, I learned more about my fear of knitting in public that I did about knitting techniques, as the gloves require only basic short row shaping and a pretty neat provisional cast on. And what I learned is that if I want to be able to count knitters among my friends, I need to spend time with knitters.
Perhaps I'll gather my courage and attend Wednesday's free-knit group. I'll make sure I've bathed, brushed and have my Altoids with me when I do.
Knitting with others -why that should be hard and uncomfortable for me is unfathomable. Knitting is not a "dirty" activity, or one that involves compromising positions, dubious characters, or the likelihood of public intoxication and humiliation. And yet, it still gives me s feeling similar to that I get before I've entered a yoga studio or exercise class - anxious, fearful of making mistakes. Probably really more fearful of not belonging, and not being liked. And the worst part of all - worrying that people won't like me, but will yet be too polite and too civilized to not simply tell me to leave and never return. I don't want to be tolerated - I'd rather be banished!
(Side note - I'm actually not very likely to be banished, anyway. I'm kind, courteous, helpful when I can be, sympathetic to nearly any and all plights, non-judgmental, except of myself. And I don't smell or have bad breath. At least that I know of - oh, no. What if I do smell, AND have bad breath, and everyone around me is simply too polite to let me know? Am I merely tolerated by those I love? It's an endless loop, I tell you, this sort of not measuring up...or at least being afraid of not measuring up...)
Back to knitting, and back to my fear of knitting with others. I thought I'd confront my fear head on, at least by taking a baby step. I took a knitting class with other people at my LYS last week. It was nice.
For 5 hours we worked on a really neat and simple pair of custom measured Side to Side Garter Stitch Gloves designed by Joan Goldstein, who also was our delightful teacher. The gloves were knit in Mountain Colors Hand Painted Yarns - (PO Box 156, Corvallis, MT 59828 )
Bearfoot, a 60% Superwash Wool, 25% Mohair, 15% Nylon, (350 yds/skein, Gauge 6-7 st/inc single, needle size 1-2, or 4-5 st/inc double strand, needle size 4-6. Approx 100g/skein, srp $22.00) in the Glacier Teal colorway. This yarn is very soft and knits up like a dream!
The gloves themselves are knit flat and the fingers (and all other seams) are grafted together as you turn and come to them. I'm a slow knitter, and I almost completed the palm of one glove - picture to come soon. In this state, the piece looks more like a relative of an octopus than a piece of apparel, but as the pinky finger is finished and then turned, then the side of the glove and top of the finger knit and grafted, it really does start to resemble a glove. I've set this aside for now to work on my daughter's sweater, and will pick it up again as soon as that is finished. Joan indicated that it took most people a few days to make both gloves, and I think that I'll have the pair complete with a week or so of evening knitting.
All in all, I learned more about my fear of knitting in public that I did about knitting techniques, as the gloves require only basic short row shaping and a pretty neat provisional cast on. And what I learned is that if I want to be able to count knitters among my friends, I need to spend time with knitters.
Perhaps I'll gather my courage and attend Wednesday's free-knit group. I'll make sure I've bathed, brushed and have my Altoids with me when I do.
posted by Your Style Muse at 9:21 AM
2 Comments:
Came by way of Amy's blog! Welcome to blogdom!
It's not uncommon to have that fear of only being tolerated in a group setting. It's something that has kept me out of many groups.
Thanks for listening to the Pointy Sticks podcast!
I love knitting with others, but I never seem to get much done because the women are always so interesting I end up talking too much to knit. I'm glad you decided to take that baby step - I hope it opens a new door and adds a new dimension to your knitting!
I love the Mountain Colors yarns. I used their 4/8s yarn to make my multidirectional scarf, and it is on of my favorite items to wear. I have the bearfoots yarn waiting for me to get to it - I just have to pick a pattern for it!
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