Knitting and Crochet Blog Week Day 1 – The House Cup

So, here we are with Day 1 of the Fourth Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week (search for 4KCBWDAY1 to find the other participants). Welcome, if you haven’t been here before.

The challenge today is to declare your house and explain what sort of knitter/crocheter you are. The four houses are Bee, Monkey, Manatee and Peacock, each with their own attributes. See eskimimi’s post about all four for more details.

Looking at the four houses, with their badges, I instantly wanted to be a bee or a peacock because I loved the look of their crests. However, peacocks are all about the finishing, adding sparkle and pretty touches to make something unique. When I finish something, I want it out of the door and on to the next thing straight away. Bees, on the other hand, have low concentration levels and flit from one thing to another. Let’s be honest, we all have days like that, but I don’t think it is my primary mode of operation. I tend to queue up possible next projects and let them marinade for a while before casting them on. Any day now I’ll be casting on a Color Affection shawl – so last summer, but I’ve had other things on the go.

It came down to manatee or monkey. Manatees love the relaxing part of knitting and, while I do see the value in settling down for a relaxing afternoon of garter stitch and a film on tv, that isn’t the reason I knit. I knit to learn new things, conquer difficult challenges and keep interested in what is happening in the fabric in front of me. Monkey it is then.

The House of Monkey: Intelligent and with a fun loving side, Monkeys like to be challenged with every project presenting them with something new and interesting.

I’m writing these posts in advance and scheduling them to appear because my hours of work at the moment are a little crazy and who knows what I’ll be doing on Monday morning. I’ve set aside a whole day for knitting, it’s mid-afternoon and I’ve not yet picked up the needles, but I’m feeling as if I have spent the day knitting. I like to think things through, so I was thinking about knitting in the bath this morning, I’ve been reading some books on knitting, I’ve caught up on some knitting blogs and now I’m writing.

I love the challenge of thinking through a pattern and figuring it out properly. Socks are my usual learning tool. According to my ravelry profile, I’m knitting my 32nd pair of adult socks and they’ve all taught me something. My first project when I came back to knitting was a simple pair of top-down socks, all in stocking stitch, with a heel-flap. I don’t think I have ever knitted another pair like that. I’ve done toe-up, many different heel constructions, colour work, lace, cables, beads and plenty else. I’m not done knitting socks yet either. my current pair – Tintern Abbey by Brenda Dayne – have included learning the Sherman method for toes and heels. I found the instructions an absolute swine to follow, but got there in the end. I even ripped a heel back twice in order to get it right. This is progress, since I’m normally too stubborn to redo things and will just knit on and make things work .

That was Day 1 of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week. Do leave a comment with a link to your blog. I’m always interested in adding new feeds to my reader. More tomorrow.