Image courtesy Plymouth Yarn Company via Hooker Leo
Combining a piece of thread with one or two needles into a piece of fabric. The word knitting derives from "knot" thought to originate from the Dutch verb "knutten".
Basic human need for clothing. But for me it is so much more. One of the things that fascinate me is how one is able to make a humangus piece of fabric or piece of clothing just with a couple of simple needles and a ball of yarn. Maybe even a small crochet hook can make a blanket big enough to cover a king size bed. Not that I want to take that project on but I could if I wanted to.
- Most of all knitting calms me. The repetitious movements and counting is like meditation but getting something useful out of it besides calming the beast.
- I hear it lowers blood pressure and it seems that I need my blood pressure lowered these days.
- Some say that it slows dementia and prevents depression! I need that for sure.
- Hand eye coordination and math skills are improved! Yay for that, both are those are handy to improve upon.
- Feeds my need to create something.
- And last but not least the knitting community. My knitting friends! All the Stitch n Bitch groups and guilds I attend. That is priceless!
In recent times knitting has become more of a hobby than a necessity. We all know that a hand knit sweater can be bought at Target for very little money. I say Target because the other day while shopping there I saw some lovely cardigans with decorative beads added that I might wear. But only from a distance did they look good. Upon close inspection they did not "feel" the same as a hand made garment.
Unlike weaving knitting does not require much more than a strand of yarn and some needles. It's very portable and easy to learn.
You might say that this huge network of knitters is a tight-knit community. Thrives not only online with Ravelry.com
with a 1.5 million members. It's not Facebook but very unique and wonderful for knitters. Ravelry is really the center of the knitting universe world wide. One can get lost for hours and hours admiring and learning all about knitting, crocheting and other fiber related stuff.My user name on Ravelry is BananaKnits. The membership is free and a must if you are a knitter online. But the greatest part of knitting is my many real live friends. The knitting events where we meet up and the love and being able to meet up with ladies and gentlemen from all walks of life.
I have made many good friends through knitting and feel blessed and lucky to have them.
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From Knitty.com there is "History 101"by Julie Theaker.
Where Julie starts out her article telling us that knitting is "mostly a big mystery".
Links:
Knitting 101 A Beginners Resource Guide from Paradise Fibers and Yarns.
http://www.paradisefibers.com/knitting_101_beginners_resource_guide
This group is new to me but very colorful and fun, love their buttons.
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