The Hooker Diaries

knittingandcrochet: sainsburysgirl: safestoptions: Coping...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:28:29 -0400

sainsburysgirl:

safestoptions:

Coping Skills

*Trigger Warning: Self-Harm*

One of the first things that I discussed with a therapist was “coping skills”. There is no doubt in my mind that others have heard these same words when it comes to the addiction of self-harm. One suggestion that my therapist had for me when I felt an “urge” was to do something with my hands - stay busy!

I ended up finding solace in knitting! You may think it is too hard to learn, or will take to long to get the hang of it, but that is not true. My mother-in-law taught me to knit, and it took me two days to get the hang of it. I cannot do anymore than knitting and purling stitches (the simple stuff), but I love it! Not only does it keep my hands busy, but I am making something as well. I have only ever made scarves, and yet, it has been such a gift to learn. Whenever I feel an “urge”, or even a bit of anxiety, I will pull out my latest knitting project and get to work. It is incredibly therapeutic.

As well, it is always fun to pick out new yarns - colors, material, size.

What coping skills have you found beneficial?

Although I don’t self harm, I do find that knitting helps massively with my aniexty. It either relaxs me or confuses me so much I have no time to be anxious!

I’m so happy you have found coping through knitting. I’m working on my doctorate in psychology and I am always challenging people to find creative coping skills. Knitting is so therapeutic and you create something beautiful. Keep it up, both of you! ((Hugs))

#tw: self harm #knitting #copingskills #mentalhealth

Oh, come on now, you beautiful bastard.

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:57:54 -0400

Oh, come on now, you beautiful bastard.

I am currently knitting my VERY FIRST SWEATER. Fans of this blog...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:46:00 -0400

I am currently knitting my VERY FIRST SWEATER.

Fans of this blog (lolololol) will remember that I DID, at one point, make a t-shirt. However, that was done in crochet, a technique in which I find picking up stitches to be worlds easier. Knitting something seems to be a lot more puzzlework, whereas you can grow crochet out in different directions pretty seamlessly with minimal effort.

I am nervously approaching the part where I have to start doing some neck shaping, which is completely alien to me. I worry about messing it up, so I think I’m going to use my very first lifeline. (Here’s the part where more expert knitters laugh a little bit because you’re really only supposed to need lifelines for complicated, lacey pieces. Hey! I still think it will be helpful.)

I hope this worrrrrks!

(P.S. The yarn is Knit Picks’ Billow and it is fabulous.)

This is a free pattern on Ravelry. You’re welcome.

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:58:01 -0400

This is a free pattern on Ravelry.

You’re welcome.

Yet another finished project. This one’s Stephen...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:29:04 -0400

Yet another finished project. This one’s Stephen West’s Westward Hat, the pattern for which (thankfully!) was already in my possession because I’d been smart enough to purchase the full e-book when I got the pattern for my dad’s Meadowbrook scarf.

My baby sister — for the first time! — asked me to make something for her. She wanted a hat to keep her warm on skiing trips. I thought this one was very cool — not too girly, but with enough frills and fanciness to stay interesting. She even helped me pick out the yarn at Purl Soho.

Please ignore the following:

the soullessness of my black eyes in the first picture.
the silly face my sister’s making in the second picture.
the hugeness of my own head relative to hers.

Here’s another FO I missed sharing with you! In the past...

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:46:11 -0400

Here’s another FO I missed sharing with you!

In the past year or two I have become obsessed — obsessed! — with bees. All things beekeeping, honey, or honeycomb-related are just fascinating to me. (Perpetually in my queue is Anna Sudo’s Apis Dorsata shawl.)

Coincidentally, my new pal Heidi is an apiarist who helps run the hives at the White House.

This year, I participated in a “pay it forward” project, where I agreed to make something handmade for the first five people who asked, provided they do the same for five of their friends. Heidi was the first to ask. So I made her Grace Akhrem’s Bee Keeper’s Cowl.

Unfortunately, the yarn Grace recommends is discontinued, so I used Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky, which was on sale at yarn.com. BUT THEN! I ran out of the inner tube color (the gray) with only two rounds and a bind-off left to go, and the yarn was backordered for something like six weeks. So what should have been a quick weekend project took me months.

Regardless, Heidi got it and has worn it at least once for a chilly day (presumably of beekeeping).

stitch-please: knitting-nerds: this looks…….complicated, to...

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:56:56 -0400

stitch-please:

knitting-nerds:

this looks…….complicated, to say the least.

Found its Ravelry page complete with pattern notes! Turns out its a cool form of entrelac.

This is so cool.

It’s been a hot minute since I shared any of my WIPs or...

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 13:47:00 -0400

It’s been a hot minute since I shared any of my WIPs or FOs.

These Falling Snow Stockings represent my very first foray into colorwork, and while they are fairly obviously amateur, I couldn’t be more thrilled with my entry-level results.

They’re big, sturdy, attractive, and — best of all — super-fast. My first one (the red one) took me about a month of on-and-off work, because I was nervous about the new technique. My second one was worked up over the course of my Thanksgiving weekend.

I’m glad to have done this project, not least because they were functional for the holiday season, but also because they gave me a kind of crash course in basic sock construction. This spring, I’m hoping to challenge myself by making the Denature socks for my science-nerd boyfriend. Stay tuned!

Have you seen the ultimate yarn storage idea? I am so jealous....

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 14:45:53 -0400

Have you seen the ultimate yarn storage idea? I am so jealous. The minute I get a house or at least a two-bedroom apartment, I am going to start planning this sucker.

wnycradiolab: staceythinx: A knitted anatomy lesson by Shanell...

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:59:21 -0500

wnycradiolab:

staceythinx:

A knitted anatomy lesson by Shanell Papp

Papp on the project:

To make the work, I borrowed a human skeleton from the university and collected anatomical textbooks. I also managed to track down a mortuary gurney for displaying the work–a mortuary gave me a gurney after a renovation…they were looking to get rid of it since “people are were getting too fat for the gurney.” I also worked in an old hospital turned history museum. I also went to open house day at a local funeral…they gave me a decorative pen. During my graduate studies, I was granted open access to the gross anatomy lab, though I was long finished making LAB/skeleton at this point. I was given access to draw, look around…. It is always funny how specimens are collected and cared for.

So much cool knitting in this world.

Not to be pedantic, but this looks crocheted.

STILL, OMG.

stitch-please: amethystlavenderphthaloblue: hellosmitten: Size...

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 15:13:40 -0500

stitch-please:

amethystlavenderphthaloblue:

hellosmitten:

Size 50

yooooo

hnnnnggghhh

"The contents of this pack have to be used carefully and for their intended purpose only. These..."

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 17:20:18 -0500

“The contents of this pack have to be used carefully and for their intended purpose only. These should be used with all due care as these may cause injury if used improperly bu an untrained/unfamiliar person. Always restrain children’s access to these tools and store these securely.”

- The back of my very dangerous pack of knitting needles.

You guys, I started making my very first pair of gloves. And...

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:56:23 -0500

You guys, I started making my very first pair of gloves. And they’re not terrible!

(I mean, the pattern kind of is, in that the resultant gloves are huge. But it’s not my mistake!)

All right, I already had a thing for Ewan McGregor? But to make...

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 12:48:02 -0500

All right, I already had a thing for Ewan McGregor? But to make matters more intense, it turns out he’s a knitter.

Stick a fork in me, I’m done.

Newest knitting adventure: colorwork. Because I am completely...

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 12:18:00 -0400

Newest knitting adventure: colorwork.

Because I am completely self-taught as a knitter, I never learned a formal technique for holding my yarn. I’m in the English knitting family, I guess? But I pretty much always just drop and pick up my working yarn as I need it; I don’t wind it around my pinky for tension, or drape it over my pointer finger, or whatever.

So learning stranded knitting took some practice! You have to be able to use two pieces at once, so in order to be able to knit in such a way that it doesn’t take you 90 minutes to complete a round or a row, you’ve got to have some idea that your ducks are all in a row.

I was surprised, though, at how quickly I picked it up, after my initial faltering. I learned some possible techniques from reading Stitch ‘N Bitch: Superstar Knitting, and just sat on the couch with the book as a reference guide for a couple of hours, testing out what worked for me.

I bought the yarn to make myself and my boyfriend Christmas stockings in late September, thinking it would take me at least that long to figure out the technique and get the pattern near done. But it’s only October 4th; and what you see there was worked up in a single weekend! We’ll be good.

This is why I have to smile at people who say things like, “oh, wow, you know how to knit? I wish I could do that.” Because you know what? You can! You just have to try.

I bought a couple of putty-colored skeins of this Debbie Bliss...

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 13:18:00 -0400

I bought a couple of putty-colored skeins of this Debbie Bliss Andes when it was on sale at my LYS last year. It’s alpaca and mulberry silk, shiny and soft and drapey and ridiculous. I knew I could find something to do with it.

I couldn’t find something to do with it.

It was such a neutral color that it didn’t make sense as an accent piece. Lace suddenly looked like macramé. And I feared that if I made it into something functional like socks or mitts, they’d get dirty and the yarn would wear, and that broke my heart.

“I have to figure out what to do with this,” I complained to my boyfriend. “It can’t just sit here. It’d be too sad. It’s so soft! It’s, like, bunny-soft.”

So I made this bunny.

I love him. I think he’s so cute.

Some things:

You can see weird pulls along the lines where my needles met during knitting in the round. I’ve never had that problem with knitting in the round before! I wonder what I was doing wrong?
Some people don’t like the little dots on his back that result from using KFB to make increases (instead of k1m1). I like them. I think they give him character. It’s like he’s dappled.
I really wish I’d stuffed his body with dried beans or sand or something similar so he could function as a doorstopper or a paperweight. Oh well.
I’m not so confident in my embroidery, so I think I’m going to leave him faceless. He’s cute as is, anyway. It’s… rustic! Yeah. Rustic.

thewordunheard: Got a little bit patriotic with my knitting his...

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 15:37:04 -0400

thewordunheard:

Got a little bit patriotic with my knitting his weekend (Taken with Instagram)

Are you guys interested in seeing my latest knitting conquest? I...

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 11:32:35 -0400

Are you guys interested in seeing my latest knitting conquest? I THINK YOU ARE.

More detailed post about it forthcoming.

eveliiine: justtheknits: glitzknitsboutique: Yellow Submarine...

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 12:32:11 -0400

eveliiine:

justtheknits:

glitzknitsboutique:

Yellow Submarine Cowls by yellowcosmo

So cute!

ERMAGERD YERRLER SERBMARERRNS

I’ve never tried any real colorwork in any of my knitting, but this seems like a really cute way to start.

So I think I haven’t posted a picture of one of my own...

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 13:11:06 -0400

So I think I haven’t posted a picture of one of my own projects in over a month. That’s not an indication of any lack of productivity! I’m just lazy about putting things online.

Here’s a lovely lace shawl I knit up in Artyarns Ensemble Light (cashmere and silk, obscenely soft).

As you can see, the ends aren’t woven in and it isn’t blocked. I hope to change that this week. I ordered my very first set of blocking wires, so I’m hoping to for-real block this out and let it dry while I’m away for a long weekend. I’ll document how that goes.

I’ve also been teaching myself two-color brioche knitting, which is AWESOME — unfortunately, I can’t find a ton of interesting brioche patterns besides the one I’m using. I’ll have to (gasp) learn actual colorwork, like intarsia. Shudder.