Creative knitting!

I was not sure what to blog about today. Oh, sure, I've got one FO to show you, and some handspun yarn too, but I just didn't feel like it today. Did you know that it was Mothers Day in Great Britain yesterday? I'm glad there is such a day, and I'm always for remembering my mom and grandmother on this day, whatever date it is, but I don't like to celebrate it on a certain day for myself. I think every day should be mothers day, and I don't necessarily mean to be given gifts, which cost money, but with words, and actions. My kids tell me, they love me almost every day, and that means much more to me, than gifts. Oh wow, way off topic here.

Alright, moving on to my actual theme today. This past weekend I had it in my head to do something specific, but could not get it to work. For two days I was grumpy, and didn't even realize it, until my son asked me, if my knitting wasn't going too well. That stopped me in my tracks. He was right, of course. There are so many projects I want to do, which is fine, but this particular project was all mine, and I couldn't get it started. A lot of swatching was involved.

That's when I stumbled upon my copy of "Creative Knitting" in my bookshelf (got to love it). Creative Knitting by Mary Walker Phillips was in my possession for some time now. It's not a pattern book, there are some stitches explained, but it's a wonderful book nevertheless! I've looked through it many times, and did not take away anything useful for me. The time was just not right. This time however, it was my liberation! I started to read, thought of the one yarn (some Louet linen/mohair blend) in my stash which was perfect, grabbed it, and a circular needle as well; cast on, started knitting, with no plans, or pattern in mind, just to knit as I felt like it. I learned new stitches, and even though I've not come too far with this, it helped me to get the other project started. As soon as I freed myself from my own pressure, it all fell into place. It's wonderful! You should take the time and just knit without the rigidness of patterns, for a change. It feels good! I think especially knitting is very much bound by rules, and how-to's, which is necessary if you want something you knit to fit. But it gets boring too. You do all the same things over and over, a certain way, and with time and many repeats, you might feel like a knitting machine. That's another reason why I like to learn new knitting skills from time to time.

I like knitting a lot, but getting stuck is not so much fun. This creative knitting made me unstuck, and I'm so very happy because of it, and thankful for this book. I also found out about myself, that I'm having a hard time to ignore my need for symmetry, and order in my knitting. I think in the end this need will take over again, but for now I'm trying not to let it be "the boss of me"! :o)

Well, as I said, I've not come far with this, and I think I'll use it to work on it, whenever I get the "being stuck" feeling again.

And as for the doggies: This time it's Sam's turn in the new bed. Biko is just happy to sleep beside it.

On Saturday she overdid it a bit, and had to take it easy yesterday. I'm real jumpy when it comes to yelps (heart stopping really) from either of my pups, because it's no good news. Sam overdid it earlier last week as well, and was limping real bad for a day. Sometimes I forget that even though they are so energetic and happy to run around, they are gimpy dogs, with lots of surgery behind them. Well, all is well right now, and I hope it will stay that way for a long time.