Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Hobby Yarn

Well, winter has arrived at the ranch. There is a mini-blizzard raging outside and the wood-stove blazing away inside. The Bag Lady thought about going to town today.... for about 10 seconds. There is nothing pressing enough to force her into the cold. She has dragged out some yarn and is knitting a scarf. She is not a very good knitter, but she loves the process, so she has a lot of scarves. Funny thing is, though, she rarely ever wears a scarf. Sigh.

She also knits funny looking, misshapen dishcloths. She uses lovely multi-coloured cotton yarn for her dishcloths. Then, when it comes time to launder them, her brain goes into germ panic and she bleaches them, which ruins the lovely colours, so all of the Bag Lady's knitted, misshapen dishcloths are the same colour.

Beige.
At least they all match.

The Bag Lady's mother was an expert knitter, and the Bag Lady has fond memories of her mother, sitting in her recliner, knitting and watching baseball. The Bag Lady's mother was not a big baseball fan (actually, the Bag Lady suspects her mother just liked watching all those handsome men running around... ahem), but she could knit up a storm while watching television and never drop a stitch. The Bag Lady, on the other hand, can listen to the TV while she concentrates really hard on finding the stitches she dropped when she actually dared take her eyes off what she was doing in order to peer, blurry-eyed, at the action on the screen for a minute!

Does anyone else have a craft they love to do (but do it really badly?) Please tell the Bag Lady that she isn't the only lousy knitter in the world! Someone else out there must do something really poorly, but love doing it so much, they do it regardless. Anyone?

Oh, okay, the Bag Lady is just plain odd. And if you think her knitting is bad, her crochet skills really suck!

19 comments:

Leah J. Utas said...

I am bad at most things, but do them anyway? An example, playing guitar. I can hit wrong note and not care, chiefly because I'm unlikely to notice.
Your mom watched baseball? Would never have guessed.

messymimi said...

I also knit badly, but used to do it anyway. I enjoyed it. Haven't had time to do it in a long time.

It doesn't matter if you aren't any good at it, you are doing what you like, and enjoying the process, and pleasing yourself with it. That's what's important.

Charlotte said...

Hmmm where to start? All my hobbies are done badly! Playing the piano, crocheting, cooking, sewing, drawing... not good. But still totally cathartic and I enjoy myself!

Hilary said...

I love counted cross stitch but haven't done any in years because I always choose fine, detailed subjects and then when I screw up, as I inevitably do, I procrastinate about going back to undo it and start anew. I have one such project which I keep bringing to the cottage with me but never get around to fixing. I started it mrffgfh years ago. ;)

Judy said...

I used to do counted cross stitch but can't see the little holes anymore. Also don't have any need for any decorative objects in my house. I'm sticking to blogging, reading and watching television. At least those activities don't take up space in my closets. By the way, nothing wrong with matching dish cloths. You can send some my way. I love them.

Levi said...

I am not a knitter but I love to knit. I would love to knit and know how to knit. I once knitted xmas stockings for Greg, Danny and Eric. Now that Greg is dead, his personalized stocking is wasted. Somehow I have to go back to the stocking and integrate my name Janell into GREG's name.
Got any suggestions? JGRANEGLL?

Beige dishcloths sound fine but they do sound germy.

solarity said...

I have never knitted a scarf. My grandmother (who learned to knit in her seventies) did that. I still use them, now also including the ones she made for my mother.

I learned to knit from books, and made some things I can't remember. More than the baby sweater I tried to make from a pattern and ended up crocheting the sleeves in the round because I couldn't make the pattern fit together. I quit using patterns, and just measured. I can't remember anything I made.

I crochet a lot of winter hats. (Also not from patterns. I learned to crochet when I was eight.)

When they stopped making dishcloths I like, I tried to knit some, and I tried to crochet some. I wasn't pleased with the results, so I just use the store bought ones and hate them.

Mary Anne in Kentucky

Anonymous said...

I've set aside counted cross-stitch for the same reasons that you have trouble with knitting and TV: I have to count every blinkin' stitch and think hard just to keep going. My husband's 10th anniversary gift is around here somewhere (unfinished, of course)... we've been married for 23 years.
I enjoy beading and card-making but I'm not very good at either (something to do with my poor fine-motor skills and/or a tremor in my hands).
My scrapbooks are nice enough, but not fancy. But that's okay. Hobbies are meant to be fun!

Someday I will learn to knit. Of course by then, scarves will probably fall out of fashion.

Clare2e said...

I embroider terribly and play ukulele almost as badly. I love playing uke badly!

the Bag Lady said...

Whew!
I love you all!
I'm so relieved to know I'm not alone!
Thank you all for playing the guitar or piano badly, or not being able to count your cross-stitch, or knit, or play the ukelele!

Bad hobbyists, unite! (Let's start a club - we can all revel in doing the things we love... badly!)
:)

Cheryl Kohan said...

Just the fact that you try to knit has me beat all to heck. I do know what knitting needles are but that's about it.

I love those knitted dishcloths! They are so absorbent! You can knit them for me anytime.

You know, you can just wash them with the regular wash and then put them in the microwave (wet) for two minutes and they're sanitized. I do that with kitchen sponges, too. Works like a charm. No more bleach!

Missicat said...

I annoy the cats. Though I must admit I am getting pretty good at it...
I actually used to knit and crochet VERY badly. Now I try to mend/hem my clothes. The tailor I always end up going to thinks it's pretty pathetic!

Reb said...

I sew badly, I play piano badly, I gave up knitting at 14 and then learned cross-stitch, I still have a gift I am (not) working on for you, that was from when you were living in RD. Um, don't hold your breath for that one ;)

Dawn said...

I sing very badly! Being a considerate person I do not inflict my loud and tuneless songs upon other people but sing them with great gusto when alone in the car.

Can I add re dishcloths. I boil mine. The color will fade but not as quickly as bleaching. That way you kill the bugs but there is no chance of anything building resistance.

JavaChick said...

I am also a really bad knitter. I like doing it, but I'm really slow and I make lots of mistakes. As long as you're having fun, right?

Which reminds me, I really should finish that baby blanket I started...um...2 years ago?

the Bag Lady said...

Thanks for the suggestions for alternatives to bleach, girls!
And it warms my heart to know that I am not alone in my uncraftability!

Redbush said...

You asked. I've tried to crochet doilies, and usually get to about the 6th, or 8th round where they ask you to increase, or decrease. I ignore the fact that it really matters. It becomes a misshapen mess when I realize it around the 10th round, and end up tearing it back, and, or, just throwing it adding in some choice words at this point. Seeing I have the don't give up attitude, sometimes, I will retry it time and time again, then the words get a lot more colourful. Thus, I have yet to finish a completed piece of crochet work! I don't know why I didn't inherit my mom's abilities in the crocheting and knitting skills!

Marianne said...

I can knit a wonky rectangle as long as someone starts and ends it for me. I can crochet, and am almost done with a hat for my nephew. But, I'm left handed, so everything is...odd...

the Bag Lady said...

Redbush - I didn't inherit my mom's artistic ability, nor her knitting skills. sigh. At least you are artistic! :)

Marianne - I blame my left-handedness for my inability to knit and crochet, too. My mother was skilled and inventive at teaching me lots of things (she was right-handed), but knitting was very hard for me to learn.