Then there's the knitting. I learned two knit a little over two years ago, from my then-roommate and current best friend. She's an awesome person who multi-talented and able to approach her hobbies with a healthy, sane mindset. She is not an obsessive knitter, but is a really good knitter and she makes beautiful scarves and other cool things while she watches TV. In other words, she uses knitting to de-stress and she taught me the basic knit and purl stitches, as well as how to cast on and bind off. I did about half a scarf and forgot about it. Fast forward six months later— I had just graduated from college and was living at home, looking for a job in a terrible economy and substitute teaching in the meantime. I was sad a lot and I missed Boyfriend and all my friends. I needed something to keep me sane. About this time, my awesome and talented aunt mentioned that she was learning to knit (she is a life long rug hooker) and would I like to come along to the LYS with her?
I've been pretty much obsessed ever since, even though I get frustrated with all my failures. Every time I think I have this craft down, I find out I have been knitting through the back loops (true story) or twisting my yarn wrong (ditto) or that you are supposed to drop those slipped stitches when you psso (you guessed it). I was telling this to the 85-year-old woman who runs the LYS in my hometown and she, with a sweet smile, put her hand on my arm and said, "Well, baby, you're never going to get it right all the time. I still make mistakes. That's life."
I think that's pretty good advice. And so I'm still knitting.
