Karma Studio's blog

Pieces of me, with love...

Sheri, from  The Loopy Ewe, recently posted a blog asking two questions. Part 1 was "Why do you knit?", and Part 2 was "Do you think you will continue knitting, or is this just a phase for you?". I enjoyed answering the questions so much that I thought I'd post my answers here as well.

Answer to Part 1: I started knitting to get through a very rough time in my life. I was diagnosed with a severe panic disorder about 2 years ago that made leaving the house nearly impossible. I tried painting to help ease my mind, but I only ended up being frustrated. It wasn't until I started knitting that I truly found peace and contentment. Knitting gets me through every single day, and because of that, I've never been so happy! I love the whole process: feeling the stitches move under my fingers, the pretty yarns in all their colors/textures, and the feeling that comes over me after I finish a project and I step back and think, "Wow! I did that with my own two hands!". Being able to share my knitting with others by giving handmade gifts that are loved and cherished makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Answer to Part 2: I am going to be a knitter FOREVER!! And ever, and ever, and ever....  I enjoy knitting and everything about it too much to even think about giving it up. Unlike when I was painting, I can knit anywhere, anytime, and there's no big mess to clean up when I'm done so I can knit right up until I go to sleep, which I do every night. :)

 

XOXO Gloves

I also wanted to share with you that I have finished the Valentine's Day gloves for my mother last week, and she loves them. :)

Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride

Color: Victorian Pink

Needle Size: 7 US

 

XOXO Gloves-Palm

Here's a shot of the heart motif in the palm. It is a little hard to see in the pic, but it shows up well in real life.

A cool thing about this pattern is that it was written by Nancy Bowron, who is from my very own LYS. You can find the pattern in the book  101 Designer One-Skein Wonders by Judith Durant.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day. The temps here in Nashville right now just reached 72 degrees F, and it's a bit cloudy and stormy, which is just my kind of day. :)  I can't wait to get home from work and curl up with my knitting tonight. I can't really decide what needs to be worked on next, but I'm kinda leaning towards working on my Malabrigo capelet since it is pretty close to being finished. I got the prettiest rhinestone snowflake brooch, but I'll spare the details of that until the capelet is finished. I'm also very tempted to wind the yarn for my Tudora and my February Lady Sweater, even though I have enough projects on the needles as it is. Can I hold out? Stay tuned...

Happy Knitting!

~T.

P.S. You also may (or may not) have noticed that my Ravelry name and the name of my blog have been changed from "purlygrrl" to "StrawberryPurl". Why, you ask? Well, I was never really happy with the name "purlygrrl" at the very beginning because I felt like it lacked creativity. I was simply trying to come up with a clever name to sign up for Ravelry, and I didn't have time to think of anything else because I was dying to get on to Ravelry so badly. The new name of "StrawberryPurl" may seem a bit random and I guess that's because it is. It came to me the other night while I was lying awake in bed trying to get some sleep, and the more I repeated it in my head, the more I loved it. The name itself doesn't really mean anything, but I do love strawberries and all of the rich colors found in a strawberry (as I have been trying to get the perfect shade of strawberry hair for some time now), and I like to purl (that's right, I actually like to purl, so stop badmouthing it!) so it suits me well. And there you have it.

Castles made of sand...

Glam Scarf

Did I lie when I said I won't wait a month between posts? Nah. I'm just a lazy blogger. Between knitting, napping, and playing Final Fantasy IV, I haven't been spending too much time on the computer. At least, I've been trying not to.

I did finally finish Mom's scarf, and it turned out lovely. And no, your eyes do not deceive you, one side is darker than the other. I didn't realize the second skein was so much darker than the first, but when you're in a regular environment that hasn't been color-corrected by Photoshop, it's really not that noticeable. My mom is pretty picky, and she hasn't said a word. I finished her Noro legwarmers, too, but I don't have a picture of them yet as I gave them to her immediately after I sewed them up.

 

 

XOXO mitts

I am currently working on several new projects, one of which is a cute pair of fingerless gloves with an "XOXO" pattern on them. I'm planning on giving them to Mom for Valentine's Day and I'm keeping them hidden from her in the meantime so I don't get to work on them as much as I would like. My mindless TV knitting is a stocking cap I'm working on for my dad. The whole thing is basically stockinette stitch and it can get pretty boring unless I occupy my mind with something else. The way the weather has been lately (it was 70 degrees yesterday!!) I'm actually kind of hoping that it gets a little colder so that my dad will at least get to wear his hat and Mom can enjoy her gloves. Of course, I'm also anxious for the Spring to get here so I can knit some gorgeous shawls and warm-weather stuff. I'm torn between the two seasons. :P

You know how I talked about not buying yarn or going on any yarn binges for the rest of the year because I felt like buying yarn would just be bad karma when I'm so broke all the time? Well, I got my tax refund and I yarn-binged. Big time. I got some gorgeous skeins of sock yarn that I've been wanting FOREVER and I signed up for Woolgirl's Sock Club, so now I get Woolgirl packages all year long (yay!). It's nothing I regret, but now that I'm broke again, I sort of expect my car to have a major breakdown or some other kind of tragedy to happen that would require lots of money that I don't have. It's not all bad, though. I did use part of the money to pay back my parents from some money I needed last month. Still, I don't feel good about not having very much money and I am vowing to tighten the reins on my wallet and get back into good financial shape. I know I can do it if I set my mind to it. It's just a matter of breaking some bad habits that I've developed when it comes to money. I'm almost completely debt free, and I don't want to screw it up now.

Oh, and castles made of sand....well, they melt into the sea. Eventually.

Until next time, peace, love, and happy knitting!
~t.