That's My Story and I'm Sticking to it

Mea culpa (I'm not Catholic, but the image & words popped into my head.) It' s been over 2 months since my last post, so here's one I was working on BR (before )
I have been knitting, and here's proof: a felted bag project (my own design) finished and ready to shrink.

I also started (and finished) a larger felted tote, knit in a stranded design using two colors of Kureyon over the long, cold Thanksgiving weekend. The pattern was in MagKnits a couple of years ago and it turned out really nice. I hope everyone had some time to knit in the past few weeks.

I've gotten back into sock knitting recently as well. Must be the time of year. I finally finished my fishtail lace socks and started this spiral eyelet lace striped sock on Christmas Eve, and I'm also working on a pair of worsted weight socks for my DH.

I was an anthropology major in college but I got sidetracked by theater and costume design. My last semester in college I forgot to file for graduation so I took one Linguistics class and a whole bunch of fiber classes at the local junior college. This was back when they offered them for credit. I took quiltmaking, spinning and natural dyeing, weaving, upholstery and knitting, all in the same semester. The only two which stuck were knitting and quiltmaking. I stopped crocheting much and stayed with the quiltmaking through the following decades, coming back to knitting once when I got Kaffe Fassett's first book and then again about 9 years ago (for good this time.) The first item I knitted was a top down circular sweater made of Bernat Berella acrylic. My mom wore that sweater for many years up in the snow.

I learned to crochet right after high school and crocheted all through college, even during classes. Having something to do with my hands helped me to concentrate. If I didn't crochet, I would doodle and lose all of my focus. I made doilies, a tablecloth and a blouse from crochet cotton, along with shawls, afghans, ponchos and a room sized rug. When I learned to knit I switched to that because I liked the fluid look and feel of knitting better than crochet, even though crochet was easier and faster. I also wanted to make a fairisle sweater. Still haven't done that. Did I mention I was told that I was allergic to wool? I still am sensitive to Shetland wool and some other scratchy wools, as well as mohair and even some alpaca.

Instead of using my anthropology degree (did I mention I was also allergic to dust, which was a bad thing if you wanted to be an archaeologist), I owned a natural fiber clothing/fiber supply store for 11 years right after college. We had dye packets that didn't sell, so I dyed cotton and rayon t-shirts for the store. I also made custom cowboy shirts, wallets and quilts to sell.

I still love to dye fabric, yarn and clothing and create with color. I like to knit socks, felted items, scarves, cardigans and all manner of stranded and slip stitch designs. I first got into designing socks because I could never find patterns that fit my thick ankles & high insteps. I would just find a nice stitch pattern, adjust for pattern multiples/repeats and gauge and use my favorite heel and toe. After having success with socks, I have made sweaters for myself and family members. I would find a pattern with shaping that I liked and drop in my choice of stitch pattern. I usually don't write down what I do at the time I'm doing it, which I am trying to change.