Overcoming obstacles.

I have an FO...one that's been done for a couple weeks but I couldn't post about it until the recipient got it (btw--yes, these are still too big for me...'V' has bigger feet).

There is a story behind these clogs and one I decided to share on the blog. Interestingly enough, about the time I thought about sharing this, Mel posted this and it really struck a chord with me. This is my story...

I officially started to knit about 4.5 years ago. I've always liked doing things with my hands but I'll admit that the main reason I decided to do it was to have something to keep me occupied during my elk capture season. When we catch elk, we spend not only long hours in the car driving from site to site, but we also stay in hotel rooms night after night. I felt like I was wasting time...like I could be doing something productive instead of zoning out in the car or zoning out in front of a television. And I was physically too tired to read or do any other form of art at the end of those days. So I asked my mom to teach me. I admit it was a slow start. She taught me a few things but I didn't have any pattern so I forgot about it for another couple years until I befriended a couple folks in town who wanted to learn as well. We went to the local quilt/yarn store and I relearned to knit about 2 years ago. I did the requisite easy hat (two of them) and I did two scarves in that first year or so after these classes and that's about it. This was pre-blogging, pre-Ravelry and I think I was just uninspired by the few patterns that could be found in the local store and really didn't know what existed out there.

And then along came the felted clog pattern. I loved it, and at the time, loved the idea that my stitches would be forever hidden by the felting process. I wasn't yet 'mature' enough to understand the stitches are what makes the knitting--I was in the 'constantly screwing up' stage. I was so excited by this pattern that I got yarn enough to knit 3 pairs of them. And I sat down to start. I couldn't do it. Maybe it was my confidence, maybe I just tried something a bit harder than I was capable of. But 4 or 5 starts and I gave up on them and I gave up on knitting.

Months later a good friend got pregnant and I knew I wanted to knit something for her so I started looking at patterns again, gave up my fear, and jumped back in. And it seems like that was the turning point. I didn't have any help (still pre-blogging) and I pushed through 'what the heck is a frickin' YO' and all the other problems. And I got some confidence.

But I never went back to those clogs. I had this strange fear of them...ridiculous given some of the other things I knit in that space, but they call it irrational fear for a reason. This year, with the help of Ravelry, I decided to make up a Knitting goals list for 2008 and I decided that I would put those damn things on the list to be knit as a gift for one of my best friends. And so I started them one night. About 7 hours of knitting later, I had two complete clogs...so very easy, so very quick. Nothing to be afraid of.

Thinking of my own story, and reading Mel's post made me think about why I knit. One of the main reasons to this day that I love to knit is that it relieves stress. And given my day to day stress, I almost crave that feeling. When I go through stages of insomnia from stress, if I make myself knit half an hour each night, I can sleep. It's totally amazing to me. But the other reason I knit is I have reached the stage of loving the process...finding the patterns, searching for yarn, learning new techniques, challenging myself. While I feel that 2007 was the year that I actually embraced this craft, I feel like 2008 will be the year I become a knitter.

So to the knitters out there reading, I'm curious: At what point did you call yourself a knitter?
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Now playing: The Wind by Cat Stevens