The reason I haven’t blogged in over a month is that I have acquired yet another hobby, quite by accident.
It all started when I decided to get off my butt and do some running, something I hadn’t done in about four years.
In defence of this seeming laziness, I would like to retort that “time flies”.
So I went running, although I’m using the term “running” very loosely here. My 5 km journey consisted of about 20% running and 80% walking while my eyes bugged like a goldfish’s and my lungs expressed their indignation by having angry fits.
That first run was very painful, and the biggest issue wasn’t even my rebelling lungs. It was the cold.
It was my first time running in England and I wasn’t prepared for the demands of working out in 10°C temperatures and strong winds. My ears froze painfully even while my body burned up from the exercise. It gave me a severe migraine — the head-splitting, I’m-honestly-going-die, kind.
After that traumatising experience, I theorised that I could prevent future migraines by wearing ear warmers during my runs, so I went online to shop for some. To cut the long story short, I found too many I liked and couldn’t decide which to buy, so I decided to knit my own.
The only problem was that I didn’t know how to knit.
But that was a problem easily solved. Piers’ mum is a good knitter so I went to her for a quick tutorial and a loan of knitting needles, and then I was ready to knit my ears the most beautiful and luxurious pair of ear warmers.
And here, I present, my masterpiece.
You can hardly see the unevenness and botchiness once you put it on your head, really.
See?
Of course, I didn’t go through all the trouble of learning how to knit just to knit myself a plain old headband that looks like a five-year-old’s school project. I needed to decorate it. So I went online to learn how to knit a heart and thus made this.
Piers was very impressed. He said, “That is amazing! You can turn it any way and it still looks like a heart!”
My three-headed heart was the result of my not bothering to do it properly. To make a proper likeness of any shape, you have to knit a tension patch, do some calculations, draw a customised grid, draw your shape on the grid, then knit your pattern.
I was too impatient the first time.
But then, I felt my first heart couldn’t pass off as a nice splotch, much less a heart, so I invested the few hours to do it right.
Much better.
Could be improved but I had used up my quota of patience for now. I couldn’t wait to sew the heart on and finish my project.
Having finished it, I felt as proud as any five-year-old after completing an art project. I was quite excited to wear it, even if I felt a bit self-conscious about my dodgy stitches and uneven lines.
And then, suddenly, the temperature went up and I didn’t need ear warmers anymore. The next time I went running (about a week later), it was warm enough so I didn’t even need a jumper.
So all that work went for naught, except I suddenly realised the possibilities of entire new wardrobes of DIY clothes and accessories.
And that’s what I’ve been occupied with the last month.
I’ve made this silly-looking thing which currently functions as a Kindle cover and I’m currently knitting a very small shoulder bag. My choices are now based solely on the level of difficulty (easiness) of the project rather than on actual need of the end product.
I bought a basket to store current projects and carry them around. Stupid things like that motivate me and make me happy.
Piers has been nothing but amused at my new-found hobby, calling me an “auntie” when my needles click away while we’re on the sofa together watching TV.
He’s refusing to believe that knitting has become a trendy thing to do and that many Hollywood celebrities do it. I pointed out that the Duchess of Cambridge Kate has also just started to knit, and she’s a very fashionable person, so there, but he said that it’s okay for her because she’s knitting for her coming baby, so she’s not “auntie” or “granny”.
Piers has what I call Selective Logic Deficiency, which means he passes illogic off as logic if it suits his argument, even if it makes him sound like a complete idiot.
Actually, many people have this disease but I don’t care about other people, whereas I have to live with Piers, so it is very annoying.
Still, he is supporting my hobby financially and doesn’t complain when packages keep turning up in the post and invoiced to him, so that makes up for it very much.
Now, though, I need to get off this obsession enough to get back running again.
And blogging.
I am going to blog more now. Really. Promise this time!
