Knitting Hibernation
I just updated my "Thelma’s knitting" sidebar feature for the month of July 1973 only to find that thirty-five years ago in this month, my grandmother didn’t knit anything at all — not even a wee little sweater for my brother, Austin, who was to be born the following month.
Knowing this makes me feel better, because I haven’t been knitting all that much myself of late. I am working on a few projects here and there — the Neiman sweater is now four inches tall, though I suspect I might have to rip the whole thing out and start over, and I’m also knitting up the sample for a pattern I wrote for Gryphon last year — but I’m not finding as much time to knit as I was in the fall and winter, and my brain is more or less empty of creative knitting ideas. It seems that my knitting mind is hibernating.
This is no doubt because I am occupied with other thoughts. For one thing, I’ve been working a lot lately — sometimes too much, though that’s been better since mid-June — and work tends to crowd out everything else. For another, it’s finally summer, and I’ve been riding bikes a lot with David and generally finding time to be outside.
Most important, though, is that I’m nineteen weeks pregnant. While I’ve been lucky enough so far to find pregnancy to be mostly comfortable and to require very little of me except for extra snacking, it does tend to change my preferences for how I want to spend the very early morning and the hour before bed — the ninety minutes or so per day when I used to knit. Many nights lately, I’d rather lay on the couch and read a book. Some mornings, I haven’t quite felt up to drinking tea and concentrating my attention on the minute movements of my hands. Some knitting still gets done, but not very quickly, and perhaps not very interestingly from the point of view of readers of this blog.
I have never had a baby before, and I suppose that even if I had I wouldn’t be able to predict how my life were about to change. So I don’t really know what will happen with me and knitting (or blogging) in the future. I don’t expect that I will give them up entirely, but I’m unlikely to be able to finish objects very quickly or to write as many blog posts as I have this past year.
I am not too concerned, though. I think that for me, knitting is a long-term creative relationship rather than a short-term interest. That my grandmother, the knitter extraordinaire, produced no knitting whatsoever in July 1973 did not make her any less of a knitter. Why should I worry, then, if my knitting and blogging activities fall off for a while, even for several years?
Babies are only babies for a little while. So I will learn to be a mother, and when this baby is older, I will still know how to knit. Meanwhile, I will accept my slow progress as better than no progress at all.
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:57 am
What wonderful news!
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:14 am
Oh gosh, what big news! Congratulations!
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:00 am
Okay, really, that’s a completely legitimate excuse for not knitting. Congratulations!!!!
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:12 am
Congratulations, and as time goes by, you’ll be able to pass yours skills on. Those booties are beautiful. Enjoy every moment of being a mother, there is nothing like it
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:46 am
Woww!!!! Congrats! I’m excited to see where this journey will take you!
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:51 am
Congratulations! I can’t wait to hear more about your adventures with your new little one.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:30 am
Congratulations! When I was pregnant my brains went out the window at the end, so be prepared. I’m looking forward to hear more about your progress and end result, so I hope you’ll keep blogging, at least. As you might have guessed, I am going to be a grandmother (for the first time) in October.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Oh Ruth - Congratulations! I see a very well grounded little person in your future, you will learn & you will be a great mom. The knitting and blogging will always be here when & if you need them, you’re right, I think that’s one of the most excellent parts about this craft.
All the best!!
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Congratulations!
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Congratulations!
July 4th, 2008 at 12:14 am
Ho! Congratulation for pregnancy! That a wonderful news!
July 4th, 2008 at 7:31 am
Congratulations - that’s a wonderful reason for not knitting, although I think that a lot of people knit less in the summer than autumn and winter. Knitting will always be here for whenever you feel like it.
July 4th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Congratulations, Ruth. I’ll bet one of these days we’ll see a collection of baby knits from your creative brain.
In the meantime, your creative process is the physical and emotional not the yarn-y one. Enjoy the summer.
Kathleen
katrog on ravelry
July 4th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Congratulations! It sounds like you have a wonderful perspective on things
July 4th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Hey Ruth, CONGRATULATIONS! What wonderful news. My very very best to you and David. If your approach to knitting is any guide, you will be a calm and methodical, thoughtful mom, and will produce a very well-adjusted little kid!
I hope you keep blogging from time to time, though, even if it is not entirely about knitting.
July 5th, 2008 at 3:23 am
Congratulations - and pregnancy is a completely legitimate excuse for many things. You are growing a new human being, and that takes a lot of energy.
July 6th, 2008 at 3:17 am
Congrats!
July 7th, 2008 at 7:25 am
That is awesome news and a wonderful reason for just not feeling up to knitting!! growing and creating a baby 24hr/day is all you need to be up for! It is funny though, I didn’t knit before my son, it was wanting unique handmade items for my son that drove me to learn to knit. Enjoy pregnancy, it sounds crazy, but you will miss it later on.
*Next month starts my christmas stocking knitting!! Once again thanks for sharing the pattern.
July 10th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Wow - Congratulations!
July 11th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Wonderful news! I suspect there will be some knitting happening during your mid-pregnancy months, when the living is easy and the baby patterns so irresistible. All the best at any rate.