Competitive Knitting

Mrs. Knitpicky (or Wit on Ravelry) wrote a nice comment to tell me that I was doing well and that knitting isn't a competitive sport. This is true, but it is also false.

I forget that nowadays I actually have several readers/subscribers I know solely through online means or whom I might not even know at all. People, I'm competitive. I'm ridiculously competitive. When I meet people I don't know well, I have a story to point out how competitive I am.

When I was young, and still freshly dating Paul, we sat down for a game of chess. Paul had taught me how to play just a month or so before, and I was interested in the game, though he beat me in four moves the first game. (If I might make a note to those of you who ever decide to teach another person how to play chess -- do not do this. Point it out if you think they are opening in a way that leads to this capture of the king. If you actually beat them in four moves it will demoralize them greatly.) Well, we played several games and I lost them all, as you can imagine. Paul is just as intelligent as I am, after all, and he has a much much better strategic mind. Let's just say that if we were in a war, and you had a choice of who could be your general and tactician, me or him? I'd advise you to choose Paul. So, one night, we sat down for a game, and Paul beat me pretty badly. I tried not to, but... I cried. I cried hard. I sobbed like a girl. See, I equate chess to intelligence, and to consistently fail at chess meant I was stupid, as far as I was concerned.

People, we didn't play chess for roughly eight more years. We just played a game in the last year. He still beat me, but not so badly. I kind of wonder if he let me do somewhat better just to keep from depressing me.

So, as you can see, telling me that chess is not a competitive sport is good advice, but I've already ignored it. I'm already competitive. Do you want to know how I could be a faster knitter of Harry Potter scarves? Someone I know in real life such as Helen or Marlon could tell me they've taken up knitting Harry Potter scarves and they were into section six or whatnot. I will tell you right now that my little fingers would fly to keep ahead of them. This is not an attractive personality trait, but it's one that I'm sharing nonetheless. This is my blog, you should know how I am.

Other horrible traits I have include being horribly shy, judgmental, and slightly mean. Other people have called me self-centered, selfish, capricious, flighty, and evil.

I promise I have good qualities too. Keep reading my blog -- you might learn about them at some time.

I'll give you one right now, I persevere! I restarted my Schaffer Anne socks today. I am also kind to kittens.

Photo by Fofurasfelinas

Why I Am The Worst Knitter Ever

So, as you all know, I've been knitting this stupid mindless Slytherin scarf since last October. I'm on the seventh out of fifteen large blocks of color and I have just been trying to crank through this. I try to get a round a night, at least, since the beginning of June, and some nights much more. However, I just read a thread of Ravelry which had the following type of conversation:

Original Poster: How long will this take me to knit?
Reply 1: I knit it in two weeks!
Reply 2: I knit it in a month and a half, but back then I was a new knitter!
Reply 3: It took me a month, but I was always busy back then.
Reply 4: Two weeks!

WTF, people? What am I doing wrong? Seriously? It's a 90 stitch round, and you have to do 27 rounds of it per color block, and then you're switching yarns like crazy for the next few sections, and weaving them all in, and then you're back to another huge color block. How are you doing this in two weeks? My gosh, do I really need to learn the Continental method of knitting?

I feel like such a failure at knitting. I mean, not only am I the slowest knitter on Earth, but my Schaeffer Anne socks? I had to rip them completely out and re-start due to the fact that I knit a size too small socks on size zero needles. I knit out one inch of fabric.

On the other hand, I beaded and made myself a cute little pair of earrings! Pics to come in my next post, hopefully. Helen made better earrings, and I hope she'll post them to her blog, so I can link to her post.

Old Cross Stitch

Remember when I told you I'd saved up a whole bunch of my cross-stitches to post when I had nothing else to post! Here's one of those times. I mean, I'm doing stuff. I'm actually on the sixth stripe sequence of my scarf, and I've gotten a ton done on my most recent cross-stitch, and I've started a pair of socks, but I'm not doing anything interesting, is the problem.

Well, anyway, here's a photo of work I've done in the past.



This is the "Summer" girl for a collection of Precious Moments and my second or third favorite from the collection. I would say it was definitely my second favorite, but for one thing. I've cross-stitched this sucker twice. That's right, this probably took me about two or more years to complete, because I completed it once, and then twice. The first one, I put into my purse to go look into framing options. Well, I took that purse to the movie theatre where I left it in the bathroom and someone stole that purse. I wasn't even bitter about losing my cards and some spare cash. I was hatefully bitter at the person who took my cross-stitch. Seriously. If you ever come across this blog post, thief, which I know you won't, but if you do, I hate you.

I managed to work out most of my negative energy while I cross-stitched it the second time, but why couldn't that person return my purse sans cards and cash to the movie theatre? Sigh. Oh well.

How have you all been? I'm still busy but things are getting better!

Silence On The Craft Front

I haven't been doing much recently. What with trying to get our washer/dryer fixed, a vacation booked, cards/presents for Paul's bday and Father's Day, and dealing with Nathan's first birthday, I've been mostly just vegging. I mean, I watched the beginning of True Blood and I didn't even break out any knitting during that time. Normally I love to knit while watching television, but, instead, Paul and I just cuddled. That was nice.

However, after a good restful weekend, which included delicious naps and the best quiche I've ever eaten, I decided it was time to get back on the crafting horse. Since we were driving to Paul's parents for dinner today, I took along my Schaefer Anne sock yarn and started a vanilla sock on size 0 needles. If I like the look of the variegation a lot when I come to the straight stockinette part, I might rip the whole thing out and cast on another pair of socks, only using a pattern. Or, since they give so much damned yardage and I have 'small' feet, I might just get a vanilla anklet pair and a patterned pair.

Since I don't have much to report right now, I thought I'd tell you all that a new free online knitting magazine just started! It's specifically targeted to patterns for children which makes me so happy since I have one now. Petite Purls is starting with a summer issue and it actually includes a pattern for boys. Better yet the pattern calls for two skeins of a yarn I've been dying to use. There is an adorable little stuffed lobster pattern too, but I've got my heart set on sewing my first homemade stuffed animal, and then knitting Sheldon. Of course, I'll never do any of this because I'll still be knitting the stupid Slytherin scarf when I'm 90.

Miss you all! I plan to write more soon, but let me just get past Father's Day, okay?