Two Sticks, String and Inspiration
by Christina McNamee

I admit it. I am 24 years old and I knit. And I am not alone.

Unless you’ve lived in a hole for the past 5 years, you’ve probably noticed the trend. Knitting is the in thing lately. And just for the record, I started knitting about a year before it became cool. So there.

I picked up knitting my freshman year of college. Hanging out in dorm lounges, watching other girls knit, I thought it’d be a good way to keep my hands busy. Went home for midterm break, got my mom to buy me a pair of needles and some $.99 acrylic yarn and I haven’t stopped knitting since.

It took over my life. It took over my life in a way that was completely unexpected. I found myself knitting incessantly, in front of TVs, reading textbooks, hanging out at parties, club meetings. Something about the constant motion was hypnotizing and soothing. I’d never been able to sit still, so something like meditation had always been a struggle. Making a scarf became a way for me to find a quiet place in myself.

But when I say that knitting took over my life and that it became an obsession, I mean that I could not seem to stop. My sophomore year in college, I traded a social life for sitting in front of my computer, reading bad Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan fiction and knitting baby blankets. I didn’t even know anyone who was pregnant. I’d wanted to be a writer since I was 8, but once I started knitting, the need to write left me. Plots, something I’d always had issue with, refused to form and my attention inevitably came back to whatever I had on the needles. Of course, this could also be chalked up to the fact that I’d stopped trying to write science fiction stories in favor of “meaningful” literature. But knitting was just… fun! I couldn’t pay attention to anything else. I spent my reading period during my last semester at college knitting until 4 in the morning, then frantically writing a paper due in a few hours.

Now that college is behind me, I’d like to say that the obsession has waned, but it hasn’t. After college, I discovered natural fibers – wool, silk, cashmere – and knitting became expensive as well as time consuming. Luckily, there are discount yarn websites to help feed the habit. I got frustrated with what I found in magazines and started designing my own patterns. I’ve gotten one published and created a sweater for a local theatre production. I found people who blogged exclusively about their knitting (or in a few cases, knitting and their pets) and jumped on the bandwagon. I’d taught myself how to spin my senior year of college and last year, I bought a spinning wheel. (In case you’re wondering how you rationalize buying a spinning wheel? You’ll spin much faster and you’ll make your own yarn so you’ll buy less! In the long run? Not so much)

So, what’s a fiber obsessed young ‘un to do? If you’ve ever attempted to do anything after having a few beers, you can guess that knitting while drinking is a rather bad idea. I’ll go out and have a good time, part of me wishes I could be at home, working on that cardigan. Knit in public? Sure, I do it rather frequently. But people who wouldn’t give you a second glance if you were reading a book will see you knitting and then immediately start chatting with you about how their mother/brother/sister/aunt/wife used to knit and they always wanted to but they never had the patience. Would you teach me, stranger taking the subway home? Unfortunately, this is still better subway conversation than the guy who tells you he wants to marry you a minute after sitting down next to you.

While I may end up a spinster in an apartment full of tasteful lace doilies, I’ll be content in the knowledge that I made those doilies myself. Oh, and if you think I’ll have cats, you’re wrong. I’ll have angora bunnies. Because you can spin their fur into yarn.

May 24th, 2006