I have a mind for useless information. Zip codes, phone numbers, etc. One thing that has stuck in my mind is a question I was asked during the interview for this job (yes, the job that I now complain of very frequently). It was the only time I have ever been asked this question, and it pops up and rolls around in my head every once in a while (kind of like a cold sore - never really going away, always lurking beneath the surface to rear its ugly head). But it's a good question, so I shouldn't really put that nasty spin on it.
Actually, it was two separate questions:
What are your hobbies?
What have you learned from them?
The first part of the question was easy. I love to knit. I love to go offroading in my Jeep. I love to cook and bake.
The second part of the question I had to stop and think about. What have I learned from my hobbies? What does knitting teach me? How about offroading? Or cooking, for that matter?
Cooking - mistakes can sometimes be disastrous but they can sometimes be recovered and in the recovery process, perhaps you find something new or better, or easier and faster. Plus cooking feeds my family. Plus there are always new things to explore (and that, actually, applies to all of my hobbies -- there are always new things to explore).
Offroading - having been perched precariously on top of rocks or door-deep in mud, offroading has taught me that it is okay to go outside of my comfort zone.
Knitting - teaches me that endurance and perseverance pays off, mistakes can be corrected (or covered up!), and that it only takes one thread (pun intended) to form a common bond.
Knitting has opened up worlds for me. Most of my "inner circle" of friends are Knitters. I've been to places I wouldn't have otherwise gone, with the hope of finding the perfect yarn. There is humor (Franklin, and the Yarn Harlot, to name two). There is comaraderie (knit nights, Maryland Sheep & Wool, Rhinebeck, my LYS). There is learning (oh, there is learning). There is patience. There is solitude, and there is gratification. But mostly, for me, it is the friends. How empty my life would be without my friends - and I'd like to thank you all for being here and putting up with me.
Enough of the waxing poetic! How about some fiber content?
I finally(!!) finished those last 5 rows of Chart B on the Norwegian Woods Shawl. I am now on to Chart C, which is an awful lot of yarn overs. No, I didn't start Chart C yet...I looked at it, said uhhhhh, and put it away for a day or two. Maybe this weekend. We shall see. In the meantime, you can see what I've accomplished:
I'm also on to the front of the bodice of the Hey, Teach sweater, which I have dubbed Lesson Two, as this is the second time I'm knitting the pattern.
For those of you familiar with the pattern, yes, I am rebelling by having knit the sleeves before the bodice fronts, and by knitting the bodice fronts at the same time (this is a bit of an undertaking, keeping straight which side is which, but I am not regretting this choice...yet.).
So tell me...what have your hobbies taught you?
