There arrived by hand delivery last week from Cath...
This little guy came in the mail from Stefanie (I love the pipe-cleaner stamens)...
And I just received an email from Cyndi that these are in the mail! I wish all of you could see how excited I get when I get these brilliant little works of art. I jump up and down in the Art Ed department mail room, do a little happy dance, and show them to everyone in close proximity. They travel with me the rest of the day in my bag, get shown off some more, talked about, and then packed safely away at the end of the day - warm and snug with all the other flowers.So this week I want to know:
Do you prefer to knit alone or in a group? Why?I find both have their merits. Knitting alone - and for me this usually means with the TV on or while reading - is the bee's knees. I usually sort of zone out. This is so important to me because I have a mile a minute mind that can hold about four separate trains of thought at a time and none of them productively. Like right now I am thinking about this blog post; my iPod that is on the fritz because I got sweat in it; what I plan to talk about in the class I am co-teaching tonight; whether or not I should make more coffee; and my taxes. Ug. However, knitting seems to siphon away all those other random thoughts, compartmentalize them, and allow me time to work with each one and try to resolve it. There are so few other activities that put me in this state - artmaking, running, hiking. Knitting is by far the most portable and convenient.
Knitting in a group? Laughter also allows me to enter the mind clearing state. Knitting in a group ultimately leads to the kind of laughter that feels like a good ab work out and a good cry. Knitting is the group safe zone and constant from which all the pain and hilarity of life come pouring out. "What do you talk about in knitting group?" "Work, babies, womanhood, sex, movies, books, relationships, fears, goals, food, drugs, politics, religion, bodily functions, family...oh! and knitting, you know, yarn and stuff..."
How do you tap into your knitting mojo? I am so looking forward to more of your wonderful writing.
Since I'm having a bad day and putting off actual WORK, I'd love to answer!
ReplyDeleteI too like the solidarity of knitting alone and find I get WAY more done while alone. So if I'm working on something complicated or that I need to get done asap, it would be knitting all alone.
However... I LOVE my knitting friends and I LOVE our knit-togethers. It's awesome to be around so many different personalities but with one shared passion, knitting. I've made some really wonderful friends this past year (2008) through a few different knitting groups. I also love learning new and different things from these amazing women. I think that is what I like best about group knitting, the sharing part. You can share new things you've learned and show someone and they can share with you. We always have new yarns to share and of course the elusive FO's.
So... I guess I'm split in the middle... I love knitting alone... but I love knitting with friends, too.
I love knitting with people! We talk about everything, even stuff that pisses each other off. Whereas everywhere else you go you have to worry about saying stuff that will annoy or upset people. You can't talk about how you hate your coworkers at work. You can't talk about your lech professor at school. Everywhere you have to worry about stepping on toes. Which doesn't mean all knitting groups are cool with you coming in and calling them bitches, setting the place on fire and leaving. Actually, no knitting group would be cool with that. But you get to go and vent when you find a good group.
ReplyDeleteI knit alone all the time when I want to accomplish something. Usually when I go to a knitting group I get about three rows done and then the rest of the time I'm sucked into a conversation. I can do garter stitch and that's about it. I pretty much have a nervous breakdown if lace is involved. Although it's still not really knitting alone. Because when I finish stuff I want to share it with people so I'll take a picture of it, put it on my blog, bring it to knitting group to show off, take into the yarn store to show them how the yarn knit up.
I mean, knitting can definitely be something you do in private or you can make a social thing of it. Kind of like drinking.
While I love knitting with a group, I've found that it needs to be utterly mindless knitting, and something that I won't mind not making a lot of progress on, as I spend more time talking than knitting! I do get a lot more done when it's just me (or me and the TV).
ReplyDeleteI do most of my knitting by myself surrounded by people. What I mean is I knit at home while watching tv - especially sports , I need to do something that includes movement to burn of stress while watching sports. ( I put the fan in fanatic) - with my husband daughter and friends watching with me. I knit at almost all my daughter's meets ( tennis, fencing and track) as well as at her dance competitions) so I'm surrounded by a bunch of other parents and friends watching the meets. I knit at lunch at work. I knit while waiting to pick my daughter up from practice, dance class or fencing lessons.
ReplyDeleteI also take my knitting to knitting group ( we meet up almost weekly). But if I'm very productive I might get a handful of rows done. We are too busy socializing, talking, laughing, commiserating, venting to get a whole lot done. I think of the 4 of us, my friend Grace ( yeah I noticed I'm commenting before you for once) gets the most knitting done. I use the excuse that I don't eat lunch at work, so I'm stuffing my face for the first half of the time we're there.
I always knit at home and usually my Mom is in attendance. Do we count as a group?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure really if I prefer to knit alone or with a group as I've never had the opportunity to knit with a group. My LYS has a knit night, but the majority of the women are twice my age. While I've met a few of them and they're lovely people, I don't think we have much in common.
This summer I'm moving to Providence so I have my fingers crossed that I'll have a lovely LYS and find some knitting friends my age.
The only knitting friend I have currently lives 3,000 miles away in San Francisco with no plan on moving back east. Sad.
My alone time knitting is for projects that take major thought and concentration, I am an avid shawl junkie, I always have 2 or 3 on the needles, and these I work on alone or when hub is watching TV.
ReplyDeleteWhen I get together with my knitting group--a marvelous bunch of women who keep me entertained and laughing I bring easy projects, so I can sit and knit and talk and laugh and not have to look at a chart or book, It can be a simple shawl, a dishcloth, one session it was the flowers I am mailing off this week. We took about everything, so far nothing has been taboo, and we encourage and care about each from the depths of our hearts.
I only joined the group in early summer after 4 1/2 years of total solo knitting and I am so glad to have it as part of my knitting experience.
I like both, but I tend to get more accomplished when I knit in a group. Due to my schedule-oriented brain, if I schedule a time to meet with other people for a specific purpose than I am more likely to keep the appointment.
ReplyDeleteWhen I make a mental plan to knit alone something else in my life always gets in the way.
Hopefully as I progress and get better at being able to knit and do other things that will change, but right now I have to be focused solely on knitting and that is best done in a group
Gotta say both! And yes - it depends on what I'm working on. Right now I have two lace shawls on the needles and since I have more lace-weight yarn en route to me as I type this, I'm sure that'll instantly put another one on needles upon arrival. Can I knit lace in a group? Uh - no. I'm brand new to lace (new year's resolution) and I'm really still in the learning phase of it all. However, I make the attempt anyway and if need be, don't bother to tell anyone that I had to take out and re-do a couple of rows after I got home.
ReplyDeleteThe social aspect of knitting is the best and yes - the simpler the project the more I get done, though tomorrow night, I'm going to work on my flowers. (Wish me luck!) I just think it's fun to hang out with people who share a love of fiber arts and who have amazing talent and love to show it off. Show-n-tell is great because you have a sense of accomplishment when you walk in wearing your newly finished sweater. At the same time, you see others' creations and feel inspired to try something new. If you need help? You've got a whole group of people ready and able to help you out. How perfect is that?
Sunday night though, I made a lot of progress on my hat. While watching the Superbowl, I got a lot done. My friends laugh at me because as the game gets more and more exciting, I tend to knit faster and faster! I don't even notice it - especially when I'm knitting an easy enough pattern that doesn't require that I look. (No - I don't attempt that with lace! HA! Can you imagine how that would turn out?!)
Garter stitch is best while conversing with friends because you don't have to look at all and can just go by feel. If you have a pattern...that's another story. (Depending on the pattern, of course!)
It's all good - knitting while watching movies is fun - by myself or not. I just can't sit still, hence the need to knit!
OK - gotta add another post. Knitting while watching movies is fun, but have you ever knitted while watching a movie AT the cinema? Let me just say that it's a lot less annoying if you use wooden needles. (Word to the wise)
ReplyDeleteI like to knit anywhere with people or without people. I enjoy knitting with Jimmy, kitties, friends or me/myself/I. I enjoy getting together with other knitters to knit, gab, and fondle yarn/projects. I was never part of a group growing up, ahhh the outcast, so for the first time I have finally found a group of people, well many of them anyway, where I am comfortable inside my skin.
ReplyDeleteI have trained myself to do other things while knitting such as gab, read, watch mind numbing TV, or meditate. So long as the environment in which I am knitting isn't filled with too much chaos/stress I can knit. Add some crazy a$$ drama/chaos and I am totally out of my element! Life is too darn short for stressful knitting since so many other compartments of life are stressful.
I do both - knit alone and knit with a group (or many groups!!!) - but which do I prefer? Makes me think!
ReplyDeleteI like to talk about knitting and the projects that everyone is making when I'm with a group of knitters. For me, making new friends can be difficult; like Bean Counting Knitter, I am somewhat of an outcast or a loaner. But even with a totally new group of knitters I can be comfortable right away and put all that "formal" getting to know you stuff out of my mind - I already have the love of yarn/knitting/patterns in common with them and a complete conversation happens without a lot of effort. Even if I am knitting in a group of non-knitters - say at a class or meeting - I can participate in the meeting and still knit (it keeps my hands busy and my mind focused - like doodling?!).
However, like Brea said, I get more accomplished (on MY project) if I am alone.
I guess I prefer to knit alone to accomplish finished projects and knit with others around if I'm feeling social. Not really a true choice between knitting in a group or alone - but . . .
I like both. I like knitting alone especially if I have a lot on my mind. I can knit and release tension. I can go to other places in my mind or I can just knit and watch tv. I also love knitting with other people. Its so nice to find so many people that have the same passion and to have the most common or the completely different personalities. In my case I don't know any male knitters so I love the sisterhood of the knitters I have become close to.
ReplyDeleteI have mostly knit alone, or with non-knitting friends and/or family, who are in awe of my addiction! Just recently, due to Ravelry connections, I have started meeting up with a group to knit once a week, and it is fabulous.
ReplyDeleteI mean, I have trained my daughter and husband to look away from the TV at my FOs and say, "Wow. . .that's lovely. Good job." Of course, there is little conviction and even less enthusiasm, especially if they are watching something compelling.
But, in knitting group, especially if it's a knit-along, it's wonderful to hear, "What are you working on? The Dahlia! Oh, I love that pattern. . .what yarn is this? It's looking fantastic!" Or, "Wait just a sec, I'm on row 3 of the cable pattern. . .," followed by another knitter, chiming in to say, "I KNOW! Rows 3 and 7 are just killers!" Such understanding and camraderie!
And the company is really good too. Something about the distraction of the hand-work help to forge relationships. Sharing honestly without having to look deeply into everybody's eyes is easier than baring your soul through it's windows. And, if there were a need, I have no doubt these ladies would come to my aid. . .and they would probably bring me yarn to ease my pain. . .
On behalf of Stefanie:
ReplyDelete"i like both. when i first started knitting, i was afraid to do it around ANYONE. i guess i thought they'd tell me i was doing it wrong! but now i like to knit alone at home just as much as with a group of people. it's great to have the time for reflection when i'm at home, but knitting with other people is great because you can share skills and learn from one another, and in the process you gain some friends you might not normally come to know. i work at a yarn company, so we all usually knit at lunch and whenever we have a knitting problem, we can "think tank" it and come up with a good solution. that's pretty invaluable."
I always knit alone, but only partly by choice. I like being alone, and I like the way my mind wanders when I knit by myself, but I would like to have a knitting group. It would be nice to have people to share with. One of my friends teaches at a Waldorf school, and she says everyone knits. It's part of the curriculum for teacher training, and all the kids learn in the first grade. She says it's common for teachers to be knitting or spinning in meetings even. I think that would be fabulous! I would love to live in a world where everyone knits.
ReplyDeleteOn behalf of Ingrid:
ReplyDelete"I don't know that I particulary prefer to knit alone or in a group, overall. I like both.
When I am travelling on the bus or the train I knit as it gives me thinking time or podcast-listening time, and also if I am catching up on TV shows. I guess that I like to be doing something else while I am knitting and so talking to others in a group is good too (whether they are knitting or not). I go to a knitting group once a week and maybe also meet with a couple of others once more at home. It is nice to talk about knitting (and everything else) while I am doing it."
I think I prefer both. Mostly I knit alone because I am still learning a lot and it is hard to concentrate in a large group. That being said, there is an advantage of knitting socially, in a group, because if you are stuck you can ask someone next to you for help. If you are confused about reading a pattern someone is right there. I find learning from others is much easier than learning from a book or searching online.
ReplyDeleteI like both. When I am home I knit on my more complicated projects, like lace work because they need my constant attention to the detail. I can listen to an audio book or the tv. I love my knitting groups and take my easy projects there. The women in these groups provide friendship, information and inspiration. I look forward to these groups since I now have an empty nest at home.
ReplyDeleteI usually prefer to knit alone because it allows me to clear my mind and I can stay focused (especially with a complicated project). But I do love the energy, creativity and the help! of a group. I feel connected to the something bigger and it's nice to know that there are other people out there who can't resist buying beautiful yarn even if they have nothing to with it! It's also interesting that a group of people who have different backgrounds, professions, families, et. connected by only a few yards of wool will eventually ed up sharing stories and personal problems. I always feel welcome even though I might not know anyone or be the youngest one there. Knitting seems to transcend many obstacles and connect all different kinds of people.
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