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Confessions of a by MMK Monogamous Knitter Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away… Well, if I must be honest, it was 2008 in North Carolina. This state wasn’t home, I knew no one, was recently divorced, and traveled 48 weeks out of the year for work. While that may sound glamorous (in some cases, it still is), I was overworked and lived, breathed, and thought about my clients 24/7. This included booting up my laptop or (gasp) looking at my Blackberry before the boarding door closed. This may seem an odd beginning to becoming a knitter, but I quickly realized that I needed to find something else to do in the evenings while in a hotel room far from home that didn’t include drinking in the hotel bar. I also had no social life when I was home for a mere 36 to 48 hours every week. I had been taught how to crochet as a young girl and was obsessed with cross stitching in the past, but neither suited me any longer. Through YouTube, I taught myself the basics of knitting but sought out fellow knitters to grow my skills and interact with others who were not in my industry. This was the heyday of meetup groups, so I found a local group that met on weekends and dove in headfirst. This group was eye opening for a newbie like me. The group was, and I’m sure continues to be, a varied group of women and the occasional man who are supportive, knowledgeable, and of varying skill levels. Just like a child learning to ice skate who has no fear, I felt the same in learning to knit and try different techniques and construction methods. In the first few months, my knitting group decided to learn 2AATTU (2 at a time toe up) socks. I bought the book, yarn, and 40” circular needle and was excited to learn this special magic. My first project was a cable scarf, and this would be maybe my third project. My second project was a long-forgotten cotton potholder that was uneven and made with double pointed needles, which I didn’t grow to accept into my repertoire for many years, but I digress. I still remember learning Judy’s Magic Cast-On with the help of a sweet and patient park ranger who had actually made toe up socks before. When the technique clicked in my brain while sitting with her, I felt like a special secret had been imparted to me that I would treasure. Every time a new pair of toe-up socks are started, I still think about this moment and her (thank you Deb). Needless to say, I was off and running with this special knowledge and have never looked back. Be it Judy’s Magic Cast-On or Turkish cast-on, toe up, cuff down, German short row heel, eye of partridge, Dutch heel, vanilla, patterned, twisted rib, brioche (the list goes on)… it is always an adventure! In the years that followed, I found a love of different construction methods for garments, accessories, and even a love for different types of pattern writing. I definitely have my favorites, but I won’t divulge those here. My journey has been tip to toe; hats, scarves, cowls, gloves, sweaters (including colorwork), socks, and blankets. Some things have stayed consistent, such as my love of color and fiber contents. Something else that stayed consistent until recently is my love of being a monogamous knitter. You read that right, I was the unicorn that is a monogamous knitter. When I first started knitting, like with the sock project above, I had a project in mind, purchased the necessary yarn, needles (because I had very few), and book with patterns. I had NO STASH! This no stash thing went on for many years. Always the same story, pick a project, purchase the yarn, knit the project, weave in the ends, block and either use or gift. Leftover yarn was given away or donated; very small scraps of less than a few yards were thrown away. For the most part, this is how my knitting journey continued…then came the ability to find yarn stores anywhere I traveled for work. One of my biggest regrets is that I was not a knitter with a capital K when I lived in the UK…though my wallet was probably much better off. I can happily say I have been to some of the most unique, quaint, unexpected, and friendly yarn stores out there. Some of my best experiences have been some of my most unexpected. I am still in contact with a hand dyer I met at the Alaska State Fair. I fondly remember buying yarn at a grocery store in Norway when on vacation. I even bought yarn at a Christkindlmarkt in Bavaria while visiting family. My love of yarn and knitting cross language and age barriers. If I was in charge, I would have kids learn fiber arts in school so they could better understand what goes in to making a garment, where the fiber comes from, how to care for it, and how it affects the environment. I’m into slow fashion and sometimes very slow fashion. I can hear you now, “Where’s the confession?” Somewhere along the way, I realized that more than one project in progress is a good thing for a few reasons: STASH – Yeah, I have a stash and I’m not sad a about it. I’m not going to call out anyone for having a small or a 4 Continued on next page...
Monogamous... Continued... large stash. When I see yarn I like, I get it if I can afford it. Do I have a project in mind? Maybe, maybe not. In the words of my now husband (my biggest enabler), “When will you ever see this lovely yarn again? You know you’ll be sad about it later if you don’t get it. Let me buy it for you because it makes your face light up.” He’s a great guy but he is at least 50 percent of the reason why I have a stash. Because of this, I almost have to have more than one project in progress or I will never get through my stash. MONOTONY – Sometimes called knitting mojo or the death of knitting mojo. Sometimes in the past, I would slog through a project I didn’t really like because I was a monogamous knitter and there was nothing else on needles. MENTAL ACUITY – Mixing things up is good for your brain and your joint flexibility. I have extended this to also teach myself continental knitting. My colorwork is done with one color in each hand. If I am working on a sweater and on body/sleeve island, I usually have something else small going like a hat or socks that have a pattern; usually these will be different weights of yarn/different needle sizes. SAMPLE/TEST KNITTING – My local yarn store had me sample knit quite a bit, so I got to knit with luxury yarns and patterns gifted for the sample and I wouldn’t have to find a person to gift it to or use it myself. In addition, with my posts on IG, I have been contacted by designers and even dyers to sample or test knit. As these are usually smaller projects or not my normal favorite colors, having something else gives me a distraction and sample/test knitting gives me a hard stop on those. Do I still go back to my monogamous ways? These days I tend to have a crochet or knit blanket that is scrappy, so every little bit is a memory. I loosely plan a queue of what is to come, but new MALs and even the time of year inspire me to switch that up and I’m good with that. I don’t throw shade on those who have more WIPs than they can count. Life is too short though to keep holding on to something just because you started it (unless we’re talking about my mom’s French toast casserole, I’m never giving that up). All jokes aside, I tell myself that if I have no joy in what I am working on, no matter how much effort and time I have put into it, it needs to be frogged. Life is too short for no joy in my craft. But that’s me, you do you! So that’s my confession, here for everyone: I’m now an MMK (Mostly Monogamous Knitter) 5
Page 1 and 2: ISSUE 12
Page 3: Dear Readers, And so, another year
Page 7 and 8: y M. Dreary A KNITTERS PLAYLIST Her
Page 9 and 10: Dishident Continued... → Row 20:
Page 11 and 12: Join Two Sisters and Some Yarn in o
Page 13 and 14: y Deplorable Knitter YEA OR NAY...
Page 15 and 16: Selbu Contest Continued... Submissi
Page 25 and 26: Book Reviews... Continued... Knitti
Page 27 and 28: Book Reviews... Continued... At the
Page 29 and 30: Amigurumi/Crochet Patterns http://w
Page 31 and 32: DIRECTIONS: Ch 30. INCREASING SECTI
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Page 35 and 36: Bloggers & Vloggers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Page 37 and 38: Captain America Continued... This i
Page 39 and 40: DIRECTIONS: In Color A, CO 115 sts
Page 41 and 42: By Uknitted Kingdom Willful Ignoran
Page 43: Acknowledgments BLOCKED has been ma

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