I learnt how to knit while I was studying literature in University. I quickly found out that besides giving me ridiculous hand stiffs it unblocked me emotionally and intellectually. So I gradually involved two of my other passions into the activity: watching films... and TEA! Suddenly I was knitting like crazy (only scarves because then I didn't know anything else) and had watched a dozen films week after week. I've also amassed what I consider to be a fantastic tea collection. There's teas of every kind, and I buy teas wherever I go. There's a few I don't use (I know, it's absurd... but I bought them in China, all the way on the other side of the planet and I don't know if I'll ever get a chance to get them again. I should get over myself, shouldn't I?), but in general I believe the best combination is a good ball of yarn on needles, a film I love or I haven't seen before and a steaming cup of tea. Much better if I've got Andrés munching on pop corn or his much beloved biscuits beside me.
Soon I knitted a (rather awful, two - shaded, long sleeved and short bodied) jumper in about two or three days. A rather astonishing first accomplishment (to myself I guess, and to my ever cheering and super supportive dear mum). Then I invented another one after while recovering from dental surgery. I guess this was impressive to my dad too, who decided he'd buy it for me (of course, he was also buying from me. It's important to mention that he always saw this entrepreneurial side on me, which he always wanted to nourish).
After that things started slowing down a bit. I graduated and moved to London to do an MA. There I tried inventing a brown and mint stripey jumper, but it is really the most awful thing I've ever seen. So I unraveled it and re did it using the formula for the magic, custom fit raglan sweater (http://www.woolworks.org/patterns/raglan.html). However, a hasty return home made me stop the project. I packed a whole flat in just a day and couldn't fit all of my belongings in the various suitcases and boxes I sent home. It currently sits with (just!) one sleeve missing at the bottom of my friend Gina's closet. I imagine leaving that behind was a mistake, as I haven't been able to stop thinking about it and what it would look like if I'd just finished the one sleeve it's missing.
On my return, and over a period of about three years, I only managed to knit a jumper for my cousin, another one for my godmother and a vest I created for my mum. This last one was important. This has been my first design to work out, and I knitted it during the last months before my marriage and just after that.
Then all my attempts have been failing one after another. I knitted a "martian" jumper for Andrés. It was so awful we had to throw it out. It wasn't so bad when I finished but I washed it and before I could stop the tragedy my domestic engineer decided to hang it up (while still soaking). Results? The sleeves went all the way down to his knees and his navel was fully exposed.
I embarked on a really crazy work schedule for a job I absolutely adore, managing projects in arts and culture. I also try to spend as much time as I possibly can with DH Andrés, and I've been trying to ride a bike, go to the gym, swim, cook, still see dear mum and dad, read art magazines and books, write for magazines and write essays, curate a couple of shows here and there... the list goes on and on.
But now I've been knitting an asymmetrical wrap three or four rows at a time during my lunch hours. It's coming out nicely, but the whole reason I started it is that I recently taught the basics to my cousin Laura and she wanted to do it. She's now in the other side of the Atlantic and I decided knitting it together is a fantastic way to keep close. And on the other hand, I promised Andrés a raglan ages ago and I haven't even started it yet (but I bought the wool over a year ago). Then luck struck last week. I went over to Spain to see my cousin. We went to a wool shop to buy her yarn and needles for the project. And there I learnt about Ravelry. Two days later, at a meeting in Brussels, I met one of my colleagues from Wales who is also on Ravelry and was wearing a really amazing hat she did herself.
So here it is. My attempt at resuming knitting on a more regular basis while teaching myself things I haven't thought I'd be able to do before. It seems to me that this is the perfect place to keep track of my internet findings and record my second journey with Knitting. This time it will be a higher skilled challenge on the knitting side and a feat at multitasking on a personal level.
On that note, I'd better get back to work. Serious e-mail overload to solve and quite significant writing overdue to finish by tomorrow.
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