The Nervous Knitter

I am, what some people would call, a "nervous knitter". Certain things about knitting that I haven't tried yet scare me and make me feel anticipatory anxiety. It's silly, I realize, to be afraid of a pair of not-so-pointy needles and a ball of wool, yet I am. Yet at the same time I truly desire to try new things and expand my knitting boundaries. So far I have mastered the following (with great mental anguish ahead of time):

cables
changing colors
entrelac
lacework ("easy"-level)
increasing
decreasing
using markers
making something in 3D
fulling (felting)


Sage Green Braided Cable Scarflette Neckwarmer

Things I still need to master and that continue to give me the chills every time I think about it:

double-pointed needles
fair isle/intarsia
making a sweater
making socks
making gloves
making a hat
following a chart


Knitted and Needle Felted Violet Rose Clutch

And some of these are combined: like, I need to be able to use double-pointed needles to make the hat and the gloves I want to make. And the silly thing is, once I try it, I am fine. It is all anticipatory anxiety. I guess what I'm afraid of is that I will fail, and that I will waste time and energy on something that turns out to be no good. Never mind the fact that all of the other things I have tried have turned out fine...


Knitted and Felted Scoop Bag

So do any of you get nervous with certain crafts or trying new things? Would love to hear from you!

7/9/10 UPDATE!

I have now become much less of a nervous knitter, and have attempted and conquered most of the items on my "scary list": double-pointed needles, fair isle, making a sweater, making socks, making a hat, and following a chart! The only one that I have tried and NOT conquered now is the intarsia -- that still kicks me butt! Oh well... I'm just glad I've gained so much more confidence! :D

My First Craft Fair!!!

I just had my first craft fair this past Sunday, October 25th, 2009. I was a nervous wreck the week leading up to it, missing a couple nights of sleep and agonizing over countless details. I thought my nervousness would dissipate once I was there for a while, but in fact it did not... lol. It was a great experience, however, and I look forward to doing it again! I walked away with a nice profit as well as the contact info of some very nice local crafters that I met. The items of mine that did best were my needle felted items (sold some appliques, my ladybug, and my spooky cat mini-play-set) and my earrings. I also sold my first bracelet, a ring, some fabric-covered buttons, and some hair clips.

Some of the wonderful people I met included my "neighbor" Cathy Nichols of cathynichols.etsy.com. She does beautiful paintings including painting with wax! My other "neighbor" was Lisa Dalton of lmdalton.etsy.com. She makes adorable sewed kitty cats called "Travel Kitties" -- you can take photos of your Travel Kitty and write up stories and send them in to her to be published on her site! Fun! I also met a woman who knits with size FIFTY knitting needles -- she uses up to 10 strands of yarn at a time! Her husband makes the wooden needles and they sell them at a shop in Huntington, NY called "Knitting on the Lamb".

The craft show occurred alongside a screening of the movie "Handmade Nation", followed up by a Q&A session with producer and director Faythe Levine. The movie explores how young people have taken up crafting and the various reasons they do it, from helping the environment to fighting the take-over of the corporate world. As a vendor I got to see it for free!

All in all it was a very successful day, and I am so glad that I was invited to be a part of it. A great big thank you goes out to the show's organizer, Gabi Moisan of Sought.etsy.com!


Me at my table

Table shot #1


Table shot #2

Faythe Levine and Cathy Nichols

Lisa Dalton and one of her Travel Kitties


Size 50 knitting needles!!!


The room

Needle Felting, The Beginning...

So I have been teaching myself how to needle felt the last 2-3 weeks with the aid of a book, videos on youtube, and trial and error. The photo below shows all of the items I have made or am working on so far; the very first item I made is the little pink & green strawberry, and the last thing I've been working on is the little lamb:


The next photo shows all of the items I am still working on, which I will show "finished" photos for when they are done, for better or for worse:


The blue duck-like figure was originally supposed to be more of a songbird, and the yellow duck-like figure was supposed to be a chick. I find it funny that they are both turning out to look like ducks, b/c ducks have always been one of my favorite creatures. :)

And I am having trouble keeping the sheep's head from looking like a dog's head. But oh well, I guess practice makes perfect, or something...

The teddy bear needs a face, and that is making me nervous. I don't know why doing stuff like this makes me nervous... if I screw it up, it's easy enough to fix... and the butterfly needs some color, but I'm afraid if I screw that up that it won't be as easy to fix...

I'm going to add some embellishments like sequins and beads to some of the stars, hearts, and flowers. That's making me nervous too. Am I crazy? I think so.