- "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." ~Pablo Picasso
this quote speaks to me personally because it has been really hard for me as a grown-up, a wife, a mother, and a home-school teacher, to
do art like i did when i was in college. i was sort of late in discovering my artistic side and it wasn't until i took my first ceramics course my freshman year of college that i started to see that not only is art fun, but i have some natural ability as well. after that, my college path took a slight turn. i found that i had a love for ceramics--turning clay into pottery gave me a sense of expectancy as well as a creative outlet. i liked painting and drawing. and i enjoyed learning about the history of art. by graduation (after 4 years), i had enough art credits to afford an art minor. i even considered taking another year to complete my art major, but quickly decided i was happy to be done with formal education and i really didn't want to add more to my student loans!
alas! these days i don't have the equipment necessary for making pottery or the time and energy to try and create beautiful paintings! i think that's, in part, why i've enjoyed knitting so much. knitting (and crochet) gives me a means of being creative. through it, i can express myself artistically. and it doesn't interfere with my day-to-day life very much. {except, of course when i'm so close to the end of a project that i just CAN'T put it down till it's done!} i use color, texture, and pattern to make something pretty and useful--and we all know the best art is art you can use! *wink*
socks are wonderful projects. they're relatively small, don't use a ton of yarn and you can practice or learn new techniques depending on the pattern you choose! i've learned a technique for making both socks at the same time on one long circular needle from a book called
2-at-a-time Socks by melissa morgan-oakes. i've found it a valuable resource since i love knitting socks, but typically have disliked finishing one sock and then having to start all over for sock #2. so, for me, this is definitely the way to knit socks!
to make a pair of socks, first, i must have yarn. i love sock yarns! and there are so many to choose from! {this can be both good and bad!} usually, i have to consider how much i can afford to spend and that will help narrow my choices a tad. so once a yarn is decided on (and shopping for yarn is half the fun!), then i get to choose a pattern. here's where it gets a little tricky for me...gauge. i currently only have 1 long circ for knitting socks. this means, for now at least, i can't just change needle size so my gauge will match the pattern's gauge. sometimes i'll knit a swatch first and try to find a pattern that has the same gauge as mine. sometimes i'll pick a pattern, then knit my swatch and try using math to adjust my stitches for it to work. sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. but that's okay, because i'm doing something i love. for example, the socks i've got on my needles right now were a real trial. i picked a pattern that i thought would look nice and decided to change the cuff from a rolled to a ribbed one. it was working fine, but after a few inched of knitting, i could tell that it was going to be a tad too small. so, i frogged it (which is knitterly talk for ripping out every stitch of a project). attempt #2 ended up too large. at this point i decided that it was the pattern, so tried a different one. got a few inches into it and decided it looked awful. finally, i realized that a plain, no-frills sock was what the yarn was telling me. yes, just like paint, yarn speaks to the artist! it's crazy, but true!
cj had so much fun even though he had to be inside! i'm so glad that grandma patty gave him that little bottle of bubbles in his Easter basket! of course, after about 20 minutes i was feeling quite lightheaded so we had to quit. for now! gonna have to remember this when i need something fun to do inside next winter!
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