When I was young my Dad taught me to knit. This was in response to my complete depression over not being able to crochet despite my mother's many attempts to teach me. He asked "Why don't you try knitting?"
Needless to say he created a monster. A knitting monster. For years my siblings have gotten scarfs as gifts. (And several dear friends, my Grandpa, and my parents) The Only problem with this is that I usually was having so much fun knitting I forgot to stop when I reached the correct length.. Thus, my younger brother Phillip had an 11 foot scarf and he's only 6'2" tall. Needless to say he had to wrap and wrap and wrap to keep it from trailing on the ground. But he wore and loved it anyway because he knew I made it with love.
Despite having known how to knit since I was about 15 I never actually learned how to make anything but a scarf, or a blanket, flat square things were my thing. I wasn't interested in learning anything else as I was perfectly happy with making scarfs.
But into every life change must occur because otherwise we never grow and we never learn that we like new things. So when my friend Alicia invited me to an event called a Stitch & Pitch, to make a hat, I agreed to go and spread my knitting wings by learning a new knitting skill.
What is a "Stitch&Pitch"? It is where a huge group of knitters go to watch a baseball game while knitting. If this sounds like you either will not watch the game or not stitch you're correct. At least, in my case that was what happened. I was so busy trying to learn how to do this new circular knitting thing (new to me. .. It's actually been around for quite some time) that I missed at least half of the game. However, I still had a fabulous time despite my team not winning!
Of course I love to learn new things so that was fun but I also found that I love to knit with a bunch of strangers who also love to knit. It is a weird camaraderie. There you are, publicly creating art-- together-- but separately. I was working on something I wanted to do and they were all working on different things they wanted to do but we were ALL knitting. I felt as if it was among friends I had yet to meet. It was wonderful.
It turns out that this is an annual event that has great crowd appeal. So much so, that the ballpark actually sent their mascot over to highlight our activities. It was as if we were enriching the entire community by our artistic endeavors and they appreciated it.
I did not finish my hat, but I will finish it very soon I'm sure and I can't wait to start creating crazy hats for all of my siblings.
Well, I've got to get back to my project! Happy crafting and if you get the opportunity to do some artistic participation yourself male sure you enjoy yourself!
Seckmea
