Focus

There has been knitting lately, but no photos, and no blogging, which, these days, seem to go hand in hand.  I'm a crap photographer, have a crap camera, and don't set aside time to photograph my knitting, all very much required for a knit blogger.

But there has been knitting, as I've said, and there has been pondering about knitting, and crafting in general.  I've been putting a lot of thought lately into the process/product argument in crafting.  I'm still not entirely sure where I fall on this spectrum, because, you see, I am more aligned with the form/function end of things.  Specifically, the function side.  I can't say I'm all a product knitter, or sewer, or crafter in general, because I do, deeply, enjoy the fruits of my labours.  But where I tend to fall down is in the aesthetic side of things.  Because I really don't, and in a fairly terminal kind of way, care about how things look on me.  I care, deeply, however, about how they work on me, and about how they make me feel.

Because I am deeply, embarrassingly excited by a multi-colour, clown-vomit, elf-crap variegated sock yarn, endlessly entertained while knitting it, and shamefully happy while wearing it, I can't say that I have no aesthetic sense whatsoever.  It's just not one shared by, well, almost anyone else I know.  What I do spend a large amount of my crafting time thinking about (and far too little time doing, comparatively speaking) is about how the garment will work for me.

I live in a city with one of the coldest, longest winters on Earth (I'm a knitter for a reason, it's not just the soft/shiny happy of yarn shopping that draws me in, and just ask me how warm any fiber is compared to wool, I guarantee you, I know.)  My quest in clothing myself by hand is not to be fashionable, though covering my nakedness is a constant goal.  It's the Quest for Warm that I'm hunting here.  And that's where my mind's been for the last few years.  And I realize that I haven't even begun to document that here, so, while I have some warm weather to relax in for the next few months, that's what I would like to focus on.  Inspired by Kate's Winter Walking Outfit, and the realization that I spend a lot of time outside in the sort of cold that most people would think deathly, while dressed in clothes that just don't quite meet the needs of a Winnipeg Winter, and that I have, amply, the skill to make the sort of clothes that would keep me warm, dry and comfortable, I have formulated a plan for a year round wardrobe for walking and cycling that is both weather and activity appropriate, and, hopefully, not horrible to look at.

First up this month, a summer/fall wrap for chilly nights. Queued up on Ravelry, or on my personal knitting list, is a few more hats, cowls, scarves and mitts for various different temperatures and needs (yes, I really do need a summer night wool tuque here in Winnipeg), and a self-designed shrug for bike riding.  Details to come, hopefully photos of FO's too.