Knitting ... Laxy Lazy Style

I was mostly housebound for the month following my Bella Bug getting totalled, and had to find something to do to keep my busy. I had been trying to crochet something, and was at the craft store looking at yarn when my honey, who was quite impatient for me to hurry the hell up so he could get the hell out of there, looked down and saw the book Stitch N'Bitch by Debbie Stoller. He thought I'd dig the name, so he showed me the book. I had been wanting to learn how to knit, and so I bought the book ... and that's what I've been doing since.

You see, the truly wonderful thing about knitting is that I can create something while being super lazy. I LOVE this! I can sit on my couch, knitting away, and watch movies, talk on the phone, etc. What I can't do while knitting are things I don't want to be doing too much of anyway, namely eating and drinking, so this is a win win for me.

One of the things I was directed to right away was Ravelry. I love this site, and it's fun to post about my projects and my progress, plus it's nice to keep track of things there. It's sort of like keeping a portfolio or a journal of what you've done. I haven't had to ask for help yet, as I've found everything I need thus far either in Stitch 'N Bitch or I've been able to google it, but I've seen others post in the forums there and get plenty of help. Here are a few of my projects:

Knitting can be a bargain for something that is better quality than much of what you can buy, like a hat or gloves or a scarf, but it can also get spendy for projects needing multiple skeins of yarn, like a sweater calling for 15 skeins. A skein of yarn can cost anywhere from around $2.50 on up to over $20. The key for me is finding projects, putting them in my queue (on Ravelry), and budgeting for them. For example, I want to knit a sweater for my honey, which calls for 15 skeins of yarn. I've got to save up the cash to buy that many all at once (need to be the same dye lot), because spending $75 - $100 on one thing is difficult for my budget. Fortunately there are a lot of discounts available on the web, and I receive some great coupons via email from Joann's. On the other hand, I can knit a hat out of one skein - that's about $5 for a hat. My next project is a pair of gloves for my honey, which cost $8 for the yarn, pretty decent price for handmade wool gloves. The time? I enjoy it, so am happy to do it!

I've only made one thing for myself thus far, and honestly, I really like making stuff for other people (my yet-to-be-born granddaughter is the recipient of the 3 other things I've made), so I'm hoping I can start getting commissions to support my habit. I just love it!