It's the Journey

Here is Lori's finished bookmark. I blocked it out last night and when I took the pins out this morning I discovered that, mercifully, I had dodged the crochet bullet. I imagine that it is safely tucked in Ricochet by Sandra Brown by now.

Why I Do It

My love affair with knitting has more to do with the knitting itself than with the finished object. I guess I am a Process Knitter, as they say.

It has not gone unnoticed by even casual observers that I seldom knit for myself. I am sure that on some level this is because I am generally (I think/hope) a kind person and I sincerely enjoying doing/making things for others. On another level, and to be perfectly honest, there are very few knitted things I actually want to own for myself. I realize that a statement like that is borderline sacrilege but it is the truth.

Scarves? I like them and they are lovely but I seldom wear them - I am warm by nature and do not live in a cold climate. (I have two scarfs and I treasure both of them.)

Hats? Have ya'll seen my hair? A hat that would cover all my hair would make the Cat in the Hat green with envy. Plus, hats do not flatter my round face.

Sweaters? That is a lot of knitting and, you know, me=warm by nature.

Ditto for gloves.

I don't wear legwarmers for obvious reasons.

Basically, other than socks and felted bags and related accessories, there isn't much I want to knit for me. (I did recently buy sock yarn from Susie with the sole purpose of making socks for me. Hurray!)

Maybe it is a sick and cruel twist of fate that I fell in love with knitting.

Case in point: Fingerless Mitts. I do not need or want fingerless mitts but I could not resist the urge to knit them. I saw the Fetching mitts all over blogland. Then the ever so practical and appealing Dashing mitts. Not to mention Euny's Endpaper Mitts, Wendy's mitts, Stulpen and at least 400 other amazing, intriguing patterns. Fabulous knitters Kim and Dorothy and Dr. B and so many others extolled the virtues and usefulness of fingerless mitts.

With all of those fabulous patterns I've admired and study, I (of course) decided to make up something of my own. A skein of Mission Falls 1824 superwash wool in the Pistachio colorway, my trusty size 7 Addi-Turbos, a slightly altered Farrow Rib pattern and a few weeks of knitting more off than on, I give you: Farrow Rib Mitts.
Mitts at Rest
Mitts as modeled by Lori's hands

And, by special request of the model: Mitts in Action.I took the mitts to work to show Lori and bemoaned the fact that I had knit these and didn't have anyone to give them to. She came up with the perfect recipient: a sweet, kind, lovely older woman who works in our accounting department and is always cold. Her name is Elsa and she is a knitter (though she tells me she does not knit anymore, in my book, once a knitter always a knitter) and probably one of the nicest people we work with. I was thrilled when Lori suggested I give them to her.

In the end, these mitts have done their duty: I tried a stitch pattern I've been wanting to try, I satisfied my fingerless mitts jones, I got to give a little something to an unsuspecting recipient and as an added bonus, I got to post a picture on my blog of Lori holding her tatas.

I think a day this full of knitterly goodness calls for wine.

Today's Quote:

"It is not the going out of port, but the coming in, that determines the success of a voyage. " - Henry Ward Beecher