New year, new useless skill

[locker_monster]

- Lost my connection to the Internet for a couple days and you really start to see how much we rely on it. It wasn't withdrawal, but I suddenly realized just how much time I spend surfing around. Like, if I'm watching something, it's so simple to just hop on to the Internet and check a reference. It was very weird not having the world at your fingertips.

- During my lost couple of days, I took up knitting and no, it wasn't because I had nothing to do. ;-) My sister has really gotten into knitting and I thought maybe it would be fun to start, so she stopped by on New Year's Day and dropped off some yarn and needles for me to practice on. Of course, with my Internet down, it was very hard to learn how to start knitting, so I went old school and got some books out from the library. It's actually quite easy to start, but I'm nowhere near proficient yet. I can cast the yarn into the needle and do a basic knit stitch, but I still need to learn how to purl before I even attempt making anything. I wouldn't say it's fun yet, but it is interesting to see how knitting works. Just how all the loops you do sort of tie together and create a pattern. I may end up making a scarf for myself, but that's probably all I'll manage.

- With that said, knitting is definitely easier than learning how to sew, but it would be nice to get back into sewing. At least with sewing, I could make things for costumes.

- I've had the past week off and it's been nice just hanging around the house, doing nothing and not worrying about work. It's back to work on Monday, so we'll see how things are. Stupid oil prices...

Comments

[shivver13.livejournal.com]

My husband is definitely more reliant on the Internet, since much of his activities are online games, but like you said, I would miss just the ability to hop on to check references or whatnot, especially since now I carry my iPad everywhere.

Knitting is a lot of fun, but I'm with you about only doing it here and there. My best friend picked up knitting about two years ago and she just does it all the time. I'd learned basic stitches when I was a kid, so I picked it up with her, and I've made a couple of things, but it really is a lot of work. If you choose something with a really basic pattern, though, you can do it while watching TV or whatnot. I made a Fourth Doctor's scarf for my husband, and it is knit/knit/purl/purl repeated - very easy.

One thing I'd like to do is amigurumi, which is knitting or crocheting small dolls. There are tons of really adorable amigurumi Doctors, companions, and aliens all over the place on the web, which I'd love to learn to make.

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

I even missed checking Facebook when my Internet was down and I don't even use it that much, so we've definitely become a society that's always connected.

How long did it take you to make the Fourth Doctor's scarf? It's kind of the holy grail for Whovian knitters, isn't it? Well, that and Seven's question mark jumper.

A friend of mine does amigurumi. I have an adorable Super Mario Bob-omb that she made. They look like they take a lot of time, but they are so cute.

[shivver13.livejournal.com]

That's a difficult question to answer. You see, my husband is a fan from when he was a kid, so sometime in late 2012, I decided to knit the scarf as a surprise. I'd go to bed (we have separate rooms, cause I snore) and knit a bit before sleep. That's not conducive to knitting quickly. Then I watched the show for the first time in Aug 2013, and near the beginning of Sept 2013, I decided to create Fourth and Fifth Doctor costumes for us for Halloween, and thus I was able to reveal the scarf to him and work on it without hiding. I believe I was halfway done at that point, and I think I finished it in about 3 weeks.

So, maybe a month and half if I hadn't hidden for the first half? It's pretty easy knitting - you get into the groove of knit knit purl purl and you don't have to pay attention. Seven's jumper would be much harder, I'm sure, not to mention simply many, many more stitches.

I tried to do a simple amigurumi and it took a while, but I have to admit that I'm not that good at crocheting and my hands are not strong enough to do it quickly yet - the secret is that you're using smaller needles than you normally do for the thickness of the yarn, so it's much harder to drive the needle. I'm sure I'd get faster if I practiced, and then slower as I'd choose to make more intricate things.

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

I'm still working on holding the needles properly so doing the knit stitch isn't coming very naturally at the moment. But a month and a half? That's pretty impressive. My sister assures me that you can just zone out with knitting while watching TV, but right now I'd be worried about dropping a stitch.

Of course, these days, you can just buy Four's scarf or Seven's jumper, but it's just not the same. The projects are so much cooler when you realize how much effort someone put into it. Made with love; clichéd but true. :-)

[shivver13.livejournal.com]

I'm actually a pretty slow knitter. Speed comes with holding the yarn properly so that making the stitch just takes one finger, but I've never bothered to learn, so my stitches are slow. But yes, if what your're knitting is a consistent pattern, you can really zone out. After I made the Doctor's scarf, I started something else that was just knit stitches all the way across, and I had problems preventing myself from slipping back into knit-knit-purl-purl. :P

It really is so much cooler - gives you so much more pride - to make it yourself. I crafted my Fifth Doctor coat from a lab coat, cloth dye, orange-red ribbon, and lots of fabric glue, and while it certainly doesn't look as nice as the ones you can buy from the cosplay companies, I love it so much. And my husband loves his scarf because I made it for him.

[rumpelsnorcack.livejournal.com]

Oh, I so know what you mean. I hate not being able to check something if a question occurs to me while doing something else. I'm so used to being able to that when it's lacking, it's ... weird and I do feel a bit odd without that ability.

I love knitting, but don't do it much anymore (tend to hand stitch quilts now instead). I'm totally fascinated by how it was ever invented. What made someone go 'you know if I wind this string round this thing and tuck it under this other string a few times it'll turn into cloth'?

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

I'm used to not having access to the Internet while on vacation, but this was a different sort of disconnect. I suddenly felt like there was nothing worth doing and ended up watching a lot of TV.

I'm totally fascinated by how it was ever invented. What made someone go 'you know if I wind this string round this thing and tuck it under this other string a few times it'll turn into cloth'?

I know! This doesn't seem like something you'd just stumble upon. And how did people figure out all of the patterns to make stuff?

[rumpelsnorcack.livejournal.com]

Yeah, vacation is different. But being without it in a situation where you're used to it ... definitely weird.

Yeah it seems like it must have been quite a deliberate act to create it. Someone was obviously a creative genius :)

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

Ooh, knitting! I hope you have fun with it. Are you on Ravelry? I've found a lot of great (free!) patterns there.

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

I'm still in the learning stage, so I haven't quite reached the fun stage yet. :-) I sort of got the knit stitch down, so once I understand the mysterious way of the purl stitch, I can start towards fun.

My sister sent me some links to scarf patterns on Ravelry, but they're beyond me right now. I will definitely need to check it out at some point, though.