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]

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.