Pulling out of a fiber funk!

This year it seems I took a bit of a hiatus from knitting. It wasn't planned. I actually had a very long list of knitting goals back in January 2010 - mostly knitting - because that was what I was into last year.

You see, 2009 was "The Year of Me". Everything I planned to make was going to be for me only. My knitting group friends were also invited to knit things for me (of course, that got a laugh but ... you never know! :-) ) In all my prior knitting years, I made stuff for others, but 2009 was going to be about me. And so I knitted like a mad-woman for the whole year. Big projects. Sweaters mostly, but other stuff as well. I even finished a scarf that I started in 2000 - yes, it took 9 years to complete (don't ask). At the end of 2009 I fell apart on the selfishness vow and knitted a hoodie sweater for my daughter. But other than that, it was me, me, me.

This year the "knitting tsunami" came to a crashing halt. I don't know why but I couldn't get enthused to knit much of anything. I finally made a sweater, that I gave to mom because it was just too warm for me. And I made a hoodie for me, but it is sitting downstairs waiting for buttons. In May signed up for a Knit-a-Long on the web site Ravelry. The sweater was one I have looked forward to making, but I am not very far along (pictured above).

There were a few spikes of new interests this year, however. I bought a spinning wheel, but I am waiting for more time with my cousin to help me get my spinning "legs". I have done some spinning on a spindle but that has been sitting idle recently. I am still very interested in spinning, but I haven't got much time or energy right now for such a big new thing.

A smaller new thing was weaving on hand looms: the Weave-It loom and the Hazel Rose Looms. They have been very easy to learn, and very easy to pick up and put down. They seem to fit very well into the ADD that has been my hobby life this year.

I have begun a new project - a sweater for Milo that will match the matching sweaters my daughter and I have. As far as knitting goes, that is what I am knitting on mostly. It is getting cold outside so that is my main focus.

BUT ... for November 2

Despite my distractions this year, I am very, very thankful for these hobbies, for my large stash of yarn and fiber, for the tools I use to support these hobbies, for the friends and family who join me in these wonderful past times, for my knitting group filled with friends who encourage each other weekly. I am so very lucky.

My interest in these hobbies is still strong. The funk that has been 2010 is fading. I am eager to pick up my needles, my looms, my spinning wheel and spindles ... and I am so grateful for them.