Ah spring. There you are all green and springy, making things start to grow and inspiring me to start All. The. Projects.
This week I realised just why I like knitting so much. Sure, it takes a relatively long time to get from a ball of string yarn to a finished sweater - but:
1. it's pretty portable. You can do it on the bus, on the sofa, in bed and standing up (and in most other places and positions, although please don't knit whilst driving or operating heavy machinery obvs).
2. it's also highly pick up and put downable: you can do it for a few hours or a few minutes at a time. Just pick up the needles and knit a row, or two.
3. Knitting is quiet - you can do it on your own, or in company.
4. knitting is easy. If you go wrong, you can tink back (or frog) and put it right.
Sewing on the other hand. Well, it's not quite the same. I want to sew, and to make all of the things, and I have lots of fabric. But:
1. Sewing requires quite a lot of preparation - getting the machine, scissors, rotary cutter, cutting mat, thread and fabric all together.
2. Sewing has lots of stages: pattern tracing, cutting the fabric, making a toile, adjusting the toile, adjusting the pattern, cutting out the real fabric, sewing it up, adjusting it, finishing it off.
3. Sewing often involves multiple gadgets (sewing machine, overlocker, iron, ironing board, tailors ham, tailors dummy)
4. Sometimes sewing requires all of those gadgets at almost the same time.
5. Using the sewing machine and/or overlocker is not compatible with watching TV.
6. Cutting fabric is final - although mistakes in stitching can usually be retrieved.
Note to self: if you want to finish that quilt you actually have to do some sewing. Just thinking about it does not appear to be having any actual effect on the number of blocks which have been trimmed to size and stitched together.
Sigh.
Pass my knitting bag.
I was thinking of doing a bit of sewing myself, but after reading your post, I don't think I'm in the mood for all that work. Guess I'll just take out the afghan I've been working on for my daughter - crocheting, like knitting, requires nothing more than a hook and some wool.
ReplyDeleteOh no! I didn't mean to put you off ;-)
ReplyDeleteI don't know why I find sewing fast and fun sometimes, and then it just seems slow and fiddly with all those gadgets. Maybe hand sewing is the answer?
Ah! You make me wish I could stick at learning to knit! I wish I could for all the reasons you listed above (plus I'm always cold so would like more snuggly clothes). However, I think when you know one 'language', like sewing or knitting, and you worked really hard for years to become good at it, it's really hard to go back to the beginning again and start a new craft from scratch, if you know what I mean. Anyways, happy knitting and sewing to you! xxx
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