Lesson 1: Don't tease a girl who's handling pointy sticks

The thing that bugs me about most knitting books/blogs (yes, I read them, I'm a dork, we all know this) is that they describe knitting generally as something not just left to grannies anymore, but that it's exploded on the hipster "scene".

Let us set this record straight kids. I am not a granny nor am I a hipster. Not even a little.

Though I have never advanced to knitting in public, rather keeping it to the couch with a big glass of wine in front of me... I do knit. And I like it. It's therapeutic. With all the crazy busy madness that happens in life, it's there at the end of the day to take my mind off of all the stressful things that turn me into a big stress ball. It forces me to concentrate on something other than the thoughts swimming around in my head which tend to keep me from sleeping. I don't generally keep anything that I've knitted for myself, at school I've donated it to Warm Hearts, Warm Hands or given projects away to people. Just like the cookie fairy practice of old, it makes me feel good to create something that I know will bring joy to someone else. Be it someone who has no mittens when it is blessed cold outside, or be it someone who has tons of mittens but who knows the time and effort and love I put into making some for them. That's my story. I am no longer going to blush and hang my head and mumble, "yeah, I can knit". It's a lost art, people! It takes concentration and skill! My nurse friend Sarah tells me it'll prevent Alzeimer's!

So there.