Designs By Elseline – The Rules

I am a knitter, I pretty good one too. My mother (who by no accident, shares the same name) taught me to knit when I was just a child. I remember knitting dolls clothes and blankets with many a dropped stitch, while she worked away at all her many projects. My mom made all of our clothes when we were growing up, as she is an incredible seamstress and a masterful knitting magician (or whatever the female version of a magician is – magiwoman??)

I owe almost all of my knitting knowledge to my mother, if it weren’t for her, my nights in front of the television, or afternoons sitting in the summer sun would be a lot less interesting and sometimes a lot less frustrating too.

I have rules when it comes to knitting, firstly – Only have one project going at a time… I have watched my mother start project, after project, after project, only to finish any one of them up to years after she started them, so I decided that I would only knit one project at a time, only starting something new after finishing something else. This rule went out the window very quickly, as I soon discovered that one can get bored rather easily when knitting one thing at a time, and when you are bored, there is no incentive to keep going. Also I find that I did not finish items as well as I could have and because I was in a hurry to start my next project, the current project lost all excitement for me.

Only buy yarn when starting a new project… This was mainly a space-saving idea, however, since throwing this rule out the window I have found that yarn really doesn’t take up that much space. Now, my stash doesn’t even begin to compete with my mother’s stash (which spreads itself over three rooms) but I have enough yarn (only spread across two rooms) to keep me going for some time (at least a good couple of years) and that doesn’t even take into account what I plan to purchase in the next two years… as well as the purchases I don’t plan to make! 😛

Only knit items for yourself… My knitting holds more value to me that it does to any one else. I know the amount of hard work and effort went into making these garments, I know how many times I screwed up the pattern and had to unpick to correct it, I know the amount of dropped stitches and I know the exact moment the I realised that I wouldn’t have enough yarn and would never find the exact dye lot to be able to complete the garment. No one else, unless they themselves are a knitter, understand the love and care that goes into a hand-made item. I came up with this rule when I was single, and working for a living. Now that I am unemployed, broke, and in a relationship this rule too, had to be thrown out the window. Knitting for yourself becomes a kind of luxury when in a relationship and I can only imagine it becomes worse when having children, also as it is close to Christmas and I can not afford to buy presents for my friends, in-laws, family, or anyone really, I thought I would knit everyone at least one present (out of my own personal stash too).

So I guess when it comes to knitting, the knitter should have no rules. I find this the best way to move forward.

I have every intention that this blog will be my adventures through my own personal knits. I will sometimes reference patterns by other people, and will sometimes include patterns of my own, but like the rest of my intentions they may just be thrown out the window…