Ten on Tuesday: Why, oh why?

Ten on Tuesday:  10 Reasons Why I Knit

 Now there's a blast from the knit-blogger past! Who knows these hands? When, where, who? Anyone?

1. Knitting keeps my hands busy. I cannot imagine idle hands. I put knitting aside in favor of counted cross-stitch samplers for a while in the late '80s and early '90s, finding that sort of project to be more portable and easier to segment, at the time, but I was always anxious to get back to knitting!

2. Knitting keeps me company. I learned to knit as a child and did a little knitting during my high school years, but it was when I moved to Oregon in the early '80s that I became a knitter. It wouldn't really be much of an exaggeration to say that it saved me! I was pretty lonely out there, and knitting was my BFF for a while! Come to think of it, I was knitting in high school for the same reason, though wasn't challenging myself then nearly as much as in Oregon (and neither was I as lonely).

3. Knitting keeps my brain busy. Well, knitting keeps my brain as busy as it needs to be on any given day/hour/minute! I always have a few projects in process, usually of various types and degrees of difficulty.

Parcheesi (Parcheesi Afghan by Janine Bajus)

4. Knitting satisfies my need to be creative. I love that I can exercise my creativity in so many ways with knitting — from choosing and/or arranging colors to making pattern modifications, and even dabbling in rudimentary design!

5. Knitting helps my social life. Oh, how I could have used a Stitch 'n Bitch in Oregon! Thankfully, knitting groups are not hard to find — or form — these days, and I'm happy to have many local options, and to have made some good friends. I love a group for the variety of people and personalities, which translates to a variety of interests and projects! And then there's blogging — which I began doing because of knitting — and have made friends all over the world because of it! I am very fortunate that I've even been able to meet and spend time with some of them.

6. Knitting is challenging! One of the beautiful things about knitting — and probably one of the reasons why it doesn't get old — is that the range of projects is staggering. And they just keep coming…

7. I love the process of knitting. I've made no secret of that! I have numerous projects at various stages in the process because it is precisely that — The Process — that interests me most. I just love to DO it.

Diaper Cover (Wool Diaper Cover by Studio Tuumat Oy)

8. Knitting is satisfying! It wouldn't be very motivating if I never finished anything, so I have become more careful is selecting projects (some, at least) that I know will be finished. I've found baby & kid things to be quick and satisfying morsels, though they also need to be carefully selected because there can be an enormous amount of (fiddlly) finishing involved!

Dolores (Dolores Park Cowl by Parikha Mehta)

9. I love the product of knitting. I knit mostly for myself, and I wear my knits! Shawls, scarves, cowls, and mitts are among the "satisfying" knits that I am likely to finish (usually because they require very little "finishing"), and I wear one or more of the above every single day in the winter months! At home, I'm likely to wrap up in a handknit blanket and wear me-made wool socks or slippers, as well! I live in a wool house!

10. Knitting relieves stress. A day without knitting is a very rare thing 'round here.