I don’t usually take part in contests but when @anomadsoul showed me what he was planning for his contest, and I gave him a couple new questions to add, I kinda had to take part too. But don’t worry, the competition is not rigged, I won’t win, I’m just taking part so I can talk extensively about my dear hobby. If you have a hobby you are passionate about, make sure to participate and have a chance to win a part of that 100 SBD! Make sure to follow the rules to the T!
I'm gonna start by quoting myself from one of my old posts:
I will do this until my fingers bleed, quite literally. A dent forms in the nail of my left thumb, where it rest against the needle and pushes up the next stitch. Slowly the same needle punctures a hole in my right index finger, after thousands of times pushing it down. The wool yarn runs over my left index finger, and soon cuts through several layers of skin. Yet I enjoy knitting more than anything else.
I love knitting, I do many kinds of items but knitting wool socks is my favourite thing, so I do those the most. I have a huuuuge stash of socks ready if I ever need a new pair for myself or to gift someone.
I started knitting at the young age of 8 years old, with the patient guidance from my mother and grandmother. Knitting used to be taught in schools too but I think it is not mandatory anymore because that would require some actual teaching and learning and that takes time and effort. Handcrafts are an important part of Finnish heritage and I’m so proud that I can keep those traditions alive and thriving in the modern world of fast fashion and bad quality. Without revealing my exact age, I have knitted for more than 15 years, made so many pairs of socks that I have lost count ages ago. I’m gonna call myself an expert in the matter already, but I still have a lot to learn. Knitting is amazing because there is always some new stitch or technique you can learn.
Knitting socks is rather simple when it comes down to the basics; five needles, a ball of yarn and a couple basic stitches. Patience is highly recommended too, something that I definite don’t have much.
One of the favourite aspects for me about knitting is that wool socks are both functional and works of art. I can make a simple black pair, or something with five different colour with patterns on them. It’s sad that I hardy ever remember to photograph my knitting works before they go to their new owner, but I’m gonna add here a random collection of pictures I found from my phones camera roll.
The moose patterns socks I made for my father, because he is a hunter, the red and blue opposite pattern ones are my moms, and so are the blue toned ones too, and the tennis sock inspired went to my old co-worker because she always wears tennis socks. The pink ones went to my god mother and I'm using myself those over knee ones and the red and grey, with white snowflakes. Green with patterns (now finished) and the little grey socks are still in my storage, I think.
Knitting is an amazing hobby, it can be super simple, or you can advance in it for as much as you like. I like to change it up a lot, depending on my mood and who I’m making the socks for. I always design my patterns myself, I hate following guides and doing anything that someone tells me to do. Sometimes that works against me, but it’s also made me very creative and a great problem solver.
Knitting is like meditating for me, I calm down and I forget all nonsense that has been bugging me. If I’m doing something simple, I can watch tv at the same time, and if I’m challenging myself and doing patterns, I like to listen to audio books at the same time. Knitting is also like free writing, when I do colour patterns without designing then in advance, aka almost always. I just pick a colour combination and start coming up with stuff as I go along.
My knitting hobby comes and goes in stages, sometimes I go weeks without doing anything, and when I get to it, I can do it for 8 hours straight. I usually don’t knit in the summertime at all, but as soon as the weather gets colder, I get this itch that I have to dig through my yarn storage for inspiration. I have to admit, I have said no to numerous coffee dates and nights in bars because I’ve been in a middle of an interesting knitting project and a good work flow. I’m a grandma stuck in a body of a teenage (boy).
The tools and materials are cheap if you stick to the bare minimum, but if you want to make a fine sweater or scarf, using angora, mohair or silk mix yarns, it can rank up the price very high. If you are an enthusiast (read: hoarder) like me, you’ll end up having wool yarn enough to make a hundred pairs of socks, just in case! I have to give a shoutout to a Finnish company called Novita, they makes my favourite yarns for wool socks and they have a great colour selection. Mine are stored in two surplus explosive crates from the Finnish army, how’s that for contrast.
People ask me all the time why I don’t sell my knit works, saying that they are so beautiful and I could make good money with them. The “problem” with almost everything hang made, is that the material might be affordable, but the crafting itself takes a lot of time and expertise. For example, the material cost for the most basic, one colour, pair of socks is around 5 euros, but it takes me about 9 hours to make, and mind you, I’m fast. Let’s make a calculation that the work costs a minimum wage of 10€/h, add tax and all that, you’ll end up paying 100€ for socks, how many of you would be willing to pay that? That’s what I thought… I have made socks that have taken me probably closer to 60 hours, those are the over knee ones with cable pattern running along them, made for myself.
That is why I never sell my works, I only gift them. If you want a pair of socks from me, you’ll have to be a close friend or family member. OR you could arrive to my house in the dead of winter without proper mittens or woolen socks and I’d have to dig up a pair for you from my storage before you go back out to the sub zero temperatures. It makes me extremely happy when I get to gift a tailor made pair of socks to a loved one and later see them loving them by wearing them all the time. Some say that the socks are too pretty to wear and I always scold them for it, they are meant to be loved by wearing them! I’ll always make a new pair when they wear out.
Anomadsoul had a funny question at the end of the contest: If you would have to explain your hobby to an alien, how would you do it?
My answer to that would be to put my socks to warm their feet and they wouldn’t care about anything else other than the warm feeling. I could obviously show them the magical way how yarn is looped in continues stitches to make them. They would think that I'm part of some superior breed of humans. Which I obviously am, doh!
Fuck you @anomadsoul for making me write this much, I hate writing! You better read the whole damn story😈 There will be a quiz later on.
Wow, who knew this was your hobby!
Thanks so much for giving me some insights about how to make the contest better! I wonder what I would do without you :P
Oh and F you too! Hah!
Well, everyone who has followed me for a long time already :D
No problem, happy to be of service ;)
@eveuncovered Thanks for this.
You know what? I have never in my entire life think of knitting this way. I never even imagined it as a craft or something of immense artistry. Now you just changed me.
I love those socks. I don't think i'd like it but knitting sounds so cool, journeying in your world.
Please keep your hands to this because i can see you are so much in love with it.
I love you for this!
I'm so happy I could show you something in a new way and make you appreciate my craft :) Okay, we really should thank Anomad for sparking this conversation with his contest :)
I do I'm eve stalker
Well there you go! 😈😘
https://steemit.com/my2018/@marcohernandez98/cg67v-my-2018-this-is-my-hobby-photography-events-sports-poetry-music-trying-to-live-my-life
plese someone check out my post!
Considering the notorious behavior of dryers, I'd always make them in 3's ;)
But here is the magical thing about wool socks, they don't go missing like normal socks!!
These are amazing! I think I would just live in these socks if I had the chance haha they look so comfortable!
I also love Anomad's question at the end, "If you would have to explain your hobby to an alien, how would you do it?"
I was a swimmer for many years and still like to hop in the pool for a workout so I guess I would say, "I get into a body of water and chase a black line on the bottom for 30 seconds then I turn around and do it again... For about and hour. After chasing the black line on the bottom that I never caught I get out of the pool and go home.
Why do I do it you ask? I have no idea... hahaha"
I now realize that it sounds ridiculous! hahah :)
Hahaha that is really funny, you have to take part in the competition too, you already have one part of it filled :)
I'm actually about to start right now! But now that I think about it... my real hobby is eating food! (And yeas that is a hobby haha :) )Thanks for letting me know this competition is happening!
Good luck on the competition :)
Knitting is like weaving code.
Casting on, yarn looped, feeding loops through the other side to make a purl stitch.
The pace intensifies, becomes the pattern. Muscle memory takes over as the clicking of needles mesh time and place. The mind wanders, becomes attached tenuously to delicate strands.
Should I have done this, < loop >, should I have done that, < needle down >, as stitches march in regular rows dangling like curtains. The flow, the presence. Do you weave an emotion into each knot, transferring feelings into the weave itself?
Would future generations read your work like a photograph, analyzed by algorithms? Noting the tug of yarn, the tension of each loop. Like hearing a human voice encoded into pottery, ambient sound soaking into the very vessel spinning on the wheel.
It isn't the result, but the process.
You weave, you hum. Maybe you sing a song half-heard in a dream. Open window, cool air whispering faint secrets.
Weaving and woven, spoken and silent, the fabric of time resting within your hands.
Did you know that during the Cold War (and probably world wars too), there were female spies who knit coded messages to their works?
Steganography is widespread, it seems. I'll have to look into that.
There's a favorite quote of mine, "condense fact from vapors of nuance".
Like a subject that snaps into focus when you look at it directly.
I say this because there's something different about you now. Perhaps its my apophenia, or its a mirage of the senses. I'm not entirely sure.
What happened, did I just break some sort of spell?
Everyone has a different passion, those socks look great. You should consider selling those socks online....
You should consider reading the post before commenting.
what makes you think I didn't read your post?
I'm a big believer that individuals should make their passion their work.... some of those socks have taken so much time to create, they're definitely unique and not mass-produced.... many hand-made custom goods can be sold...
It was just an idea....
She thinks that because she explained in the post why she doesn't sell them and your comment does not acknowledge that.
will when did you started that i always saw your modeling photos which was hot to be handle but now this haha thank got something simple:P
Nice!
Thanks!
good job..i like it..and i impressed to see your this photography...
I'm not impressed with your screenshot abilities.
hahaha @eveuncovered I actually laughed out loud!
I'd buy those socks :)!
150 euros for a tailor made pair, would you really? 😈
Uhh... Well...
I'd love to buy the socks but I just realized that I'm allergic to wool! So sad... I really wanted to buy a few pairs of those!
That's more like it 😂 but there is also cotton, bamboo and silk yarns...😈
Great hobby :) you look good.
awww...you make really nice ones !!
I too agree with the cost of making it. An artist's time is hardly valued.
Keep going with your passion. The prices would be far better then you expect when you'll get fans of your work :)))
Good post
Yeah , simply amazing, my Mom also do this at Home, But not usually these days, but you have got a good art in my opinion... These are some great socks.... Like the way how you have explianed ...
Thumbs up for you....
Very nice hobby it is a very good thing
This looks like so much fun! So good to just forget about the world for a minute and focus on one creative task (the 'meditation' you mentioned). And by the looks of it you're very good at it, too!
And i am sitting here with some basic-ass black socks.
And think of all the awesome colour combinations you could have on your feet, your feet are missing so much!
"If you want a pair of socks from me, you'll have to be a close friend or family member."
how can I join your family?
I guess you'd have to marry into the family or get adopted, both seem a little far fetched though..
I thought that I could get away with just swearing to work for the Don...I am still not sure if I want to ever get married. So I guess for now being adopted is my only chance.
Nice work! Knitting is something i've never managed to master or even succeed in any shape or form. Keep on trying hey 💯🐒
You're just missing the right kind of teacher :D
Is that an offer! Next time your in the UK of me in Finland i'll take you up. You'll have a big challenge i'll tell you, many have tried :) 💯🐒
I'm a good teacher :) I'm not sure but I think the knitters in UK use a different method than we do in the northern countries, they do it in the US at least, and it makes no sense ;)
haha maybe I need to learn the north way. This UK one doesn't work for me i'll tell ya 💯🐒
Wow, those are amazing! You're very talented! I've always loved handcrafts, and I've always wanted to learn to knit... my mother taught me the basics when I was younger, but she's left handed, and so I learned to do everything upside-down. lol I hoped to find the time to improve/re-teach myself when I was pregnant the first time, but I didn't find the drive then. It is definitely on my bucket list, though, to learn to knit something more significant than a scarf. 😅
Haha, that could be hard for a right handed person, I have no idea how I would teach a left handed to knit :D
With the help of youtube, you can totally teach yourself how to knit a pair of socks or mittens, but I warn you, the thumb part sucks, I hate doing it 😂
Wonderful work! I also used to like knitting sweaters for myself, after your article I want to continue this activity again. Especially now when it's cold outside, you're sitting warm, and it seems to be warming both on the shower and on the street. Thanks for your talent and beautiful photos.
You definitely should! I've only knitted one sweater, it came out pretty good but I'm too impatient for making sweaters on a regular basis :D
Can you make me a pair of socks haha :)
Sure, if you are willing to pay a high price for them :D
I need some "STACKIN" Las Vegas Socks haha
I'm gonna do Charles Fucks -socks.
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I bet @anomadsoul is pretty proud of you, you had such a long writing! I am a little bid sad that you have put a lot of work into talking about knitting :))
You should have added a video too, or even better, make a stream on DLive with that, that would be really awesome. And entitle it with something plain like Making socks or something like that, people will be so confused at the beginning. Well, that would ve fun!
That is a good idea, but I would have to take hours of video so I'm not sure how that would work out :D
Wow! Those are so beautiful!
Hi, those socks look awesome. I currently knit squares and make blankets that I donate. Do you have a simple pattern for the socks? That will be quicker than blankets. Thx
The only way I'm getting involved in this contest is to support it . Now way can I compete with This . Incredible !
Like I said in the beginning, I won't win because I helped Anomad with the post, so you still have all the chances ;)
Amazing hobby. I tried it once but I never finish one. hehehe. As it makes me sleepy everytime I'm trying it, so I never tried it again.hehe
By the way, thank you for bringing us this challenge that will make us creative in expressing how our hobbies are being done.
Big Thanks!
Exactly!!! It's like meditation when you focus in doing something you love!!! Thank you!!! How great you describe it!!! Learn it from you!!
Wow,
Excellent work. I like it very much. I have a lot of interest in it but I can't do this.
Happy Steeming.
I love this post!
I used to knit, but ended up getting frustrated with a few projects and gave it up quite awhile ago. I'm starting to learn to crochet now. Your socks are beautiful! I love the grey, red, and white pair!
Well that was unexpected! I do find the idea of an 8 year old sitting there knitting away pretty amusing! I think we all need something that's just totally for us, a nice bit of relief from every day life, I think actually film and TV is that for me!
I guess I'm a little adhd, and need something to do with my hands at the same time when I watch tv, so it's either eating or knitting. Or Steemit..
I wouldn't have thunk that hot sexy girls knit. But then again, why the hell not? Keep on knittin'. Keep on rockin'.
Joe
@joe.nobel
science fiction, fantasy, erotica
Did you just call me hot and sexy! Cool, thanks! ;D
Very cool idea to watch tv or listen to audiobooks why you knit. I really like the pair with the moose on them!
@eveuncovered this Is amazing... Am so inspired to be part of this contest.
Even a person who hates writing still willing write over 1000 words, it proves that anyone can do as long as they put effort into it.
Your Knitting skill is absolutely gorgeous. It required a lot of patience to do it. That's why you won't feel irritated with it because it is your hobby.
Thank you for becoming our judge for the hobby contest too.
It's more about what I write, I'm passionate about my subjects, so it's easier.
I think there is a spelling error or translation error, because I'm definitely not irritated when I knit, quite the contrary :D
Ops, I type too fast again... its like a time skip of wording... won't irritated. Thank you for the correction.
plese check out mine plese plese https://steemit.com/my2018/@marcohernandez98/cg67v-my-2018-this-is-my-hobby-photography-events-sports-poetry-music-trying-to-live-my-life
I love your socks! Sock knitting is something I enjoy, too. Takes a lot of time, but they last a long time, too. Hand knits are the best!
Socks looks really cute! Good work. Keep on it :))
Challenge, where you can win up to 100s $SD!
If you want to, you can try it here:
https://steemit.com/contest/@guessandgain/guess-and-gain-2-2-day-win-usd