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Consider Knitting

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Re: Consider Knitting

#81

Post by ics »

deedree wrote: post #76
Anthony-G wrote: post #67

Back in the mid-90s, I asked my mother to teach me how to knit. Like many women of their time, both she and her mother were skilled at Aran knitting¹ and I was always impressed at the complex patterns that could be created from a length of yarn with two knitting needles – or three for the more complicated stitches. Even though this was the 90s and mindfulness wasn’t something anyone would have heard of in rural Irela…

How do you built your own wheels? Isn’t that super hard without industrial tools? Sincere question.

Wheelbuilding in this case uses "building" to convey the measurement and adjustment required to assemble parts of the wheel. Building from parts, not from scratch materials.

https://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

Re: Consider Knitting

#83

Post by munificent »

bonki wrote: post #2

I like crotcheting (tried it again for the first time since childhood during Covid). My main problem is that, unless you have already mastered it and can do it in your sleep, I have to fully concentrate on it to not fuck things up, which means I can't do something else at the same time, e.g. listen to an audiobook. And because I'm so slow it takes too much time for me to not think that it's a waste of time because I…

> And because I'm so slow it takes too much time for me to not think that it's a waste of time because I could have done something more meaningful instead.

I struggle with this too, especially because knitting is so slow and I'm in the unusual but fortunate position of having my other hobby (writing a couple of books) clearly having had much more impact.

There's a part of my brain when I knit that's like, "You know if you spent this hour working on another book, it would leave a bigger mark in the world."

But I also know that part of that impulse is unhealthy. I wrote those books for a lot reasons, many of which were good. But some of that drive did come from a sense that I'm not enough just being me and I need to be making something of value for as many people as possible to consider myself worthy.

I'm trying to grow out of that mindset and accept myself just as I am. So I consider time spent knitting as sort of exposure therapy for getting used to the idea that I deserve to take time for my selfish joys.

Re: Consider Knitting

#84

Post by criddell »

smackeyacky wrote: post #7
petesergeant wrote: post #5

While I'm very open-minded to knitting, also consider picking up a musical instrument. Guitar, ukulele, keyboard. There are apps that'll teach you, and it's immensely gratifying -- if like me you obsess over certain songs -- to then be able to work towards playing those.

No better time in history to learn guitar. Amazing online resources, the world is flooded with cheap guitars as well if you’re happy with 2nd hand. There is a technical side to it (tuning, restringing) and plenty of toys, pedals and computer integration to any nerd hearts content. Even if you get stuck at 3 chords it’s amazing the number of pop songs you can suddenly play. Plus if you get past there you still have cl…

I sometimes wonder if I'm broken in some way. I bought my first guitar in 1996 (a Mexican Fender Stratocaster) and my last guitar in 2018 (a Gibson SG). I've taken lessons with three different teachers. I've worked through a Hal Leonard book series. I've subscribed to Guitar Tricks for a while then switched to Justin Guitar. I have YouTube playlists a mile long where I try to learn songs. I keep a guitar in my office to help me stop thinking about a problem when I get stuck.

After all this, I don't know any (real) songs from start to finish. The closest I come is playing Nirvana's About a Girl.

I might have some kind of rhythm disability. If I try to play along with a record, I'm almost always lost right away because I start strumming to match the drumming pattern or the vocal rhythms.

It's so frustrating, especially when I see how fast my kids learned to play an instrument. They make it look so easy.

Re: Consider Knitting

#85

Post by munificent »

treszkai wrote: post #48
jvanderbot wrote: post #40

I find woodworking fun for basically all the same reasons. Plus there's still the math of adding up things to predict cut layouts, and you end up with a new shelf or box or table. I'm not sure I would use anything I knitted.

I also found woodworking recently as a software engineer and it's incredibly rewarding. Both the tactile feeling of the activity, the idea of building something that _exists_ in physical form and exists in your or a loved one's home, and the pride that you feel about a finished product and having overcome challenges and learned something. Unlike knitting, I love its usefulness. There are so only many use cases for kn…

Agree on all accounts. I very much enjoy the limited woodworking I've done, but the logistics are much trickier than knitting.

I do find whittling to be an interesting middle point. Like knitting, you don't need a dedicated workshop. It doesn't take a lot of set up and tear down for a given session. You can fit the project and tools in a small space.

Of course, you're shedding wood chips the whole time, so you can't really whittle on the couch. And you sure as hell can't do it on an airplane. But you can do it when, say, camping with friends, or sitting on the back porch when it's nice out.

Re: Consider Knitting

#87

Post by criddell »

> Because regardless of how good the object itself is, it is an inarguable testament to the fact that I chose to spend dozens of quiet hours making stitch after stitch, all the while thinking about her and how much she means to me. A fraction of my life’s wick that I burned for her and no one else.

That's lovely.

When I moved to Portland in 2004, we went to the bank (Umpqua) to open accounts and found out that they have a knitting group at the bank every week. It was so weird and felt very Portland.

Anyway, loved the post but I do have one question: how do you make coffee?

Re: Consider Knitting

#88

Post by ergonaught »

My mom taught me how to crochet when I was a young boy and every now and then I still get out the yarn and pass some time. Even without attempting to make anything specific, it's quite engaging while simultaneously relaxing.

Re: Consider Knitting

#89

Post by Anthony-G »

ics wrote: post #81
deedree wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you built your own wheels? Isn’t that super hard without industrial tools? Sincere question.

Wheelbuilding in this case uses "building" to convey the measurement and adjustment required to assemble parts of the wheel. Building from parts, not from scratch materials. https://sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

Sheldon Brown was my inspiration for many bike-related endeavours and his website is what drew me to Internet and the WWW in the first place. I used to to into Internet cafés and print out pages from his site – including this very guide. This was what I used for the first few wheels I built. Eventually, I got a copy of The Bicycle Wheel, by Jobst Brandt from my local library.

Re: Consider Knitting

#90

Post by al_borland »

dmd wrote: post #72
al_borland wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was probably my issue as well. I grew up seeing my grandma crochet. She’d do it while watching TV (though I’m not sure if she was actually watching or just in proximity to others watching), and she was quick. I have a couple afghans she made. She probably made a couple dozen. The learning curve was higher than I expected, especially without someone to be there showing me stuff. I just tried watching some YouTube…

Where did you hear knitting is easier? I was under the impression that crocheting is much easier.

I’m not sure where exactly, just something I heard a few times and it stuck.

I just looked around and found mixed opinions. Though, I found this one which may sum up the debate.

> Crochet is harder to go from 0 to 1 but knitting is harder to go from 1 to 10.

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