My life in knitting

I've had people ask me why I started knitting.
I can't help but to ask "Why not?".

But if you're really looking for an answer I suppose I can give you one.

I've always been big on creative outlets.
I can still think back to being in junior high and staying up till 3 in the morning on the weekends, working on some little craft project, made out of random things found around the house.
picture frames, coffee can lamps, decorating boxes...
I always found something to create or decorate.

In high school I got hooked on making jewelry.
Hobby Lobby was close to our neighborhood and provided me with an excellent selection of memory wire and beads that quickly ate my dairy queen paycheck.
My best friend and I would just hang out and bead in her childhood clubhouse and at one point thought we would actually go into business, but of course our thoughts were just that... thoughts.

I continued making jewelry a couple of years after graduating but life got busy. Life got hectic. Life got crazy and often times the things that I enjoyed ended up in boxes, only to be moved to another location and seldom brought out for me to play with.

Then I became a mom.
I went from being my own, independent self to being responsible for a sweet, perfectly created, little boy.
my time was quickly consumed with motherhood, wifehood, work...  life, and only on rare occasions would I find the time create something.

Brodey was 4 days shy of being two when I had my first knitting lesson.
I had told David about a month prior to that, that I wanted to learn how and I don't even think I knew why I wanted to...
I just wanted to create and if people insisted on asking me if my target scarf purchase was something I made, well then maybe I should make something. 
I can sit back and look at it now and in that time of life I was reinventing me.
I had started my recovery journey, fell madly in love with Jesus, and was finally in a place in my life where I could once again get passionate about something.
I was creating a new identity for me and one that I could be proud of.
I've been knitting for a little over 4 yrs. now and I am STILL learning.
There are still things that I want to make that I haven't...
New techniques I want to learn...
New yarn and fibers to play with and explore...

Knitting has become more than just a craft.
It's more than just a hobby.
It's more than just something to keep me preoccupied.
It is a big part of who I am.
It introduced me to a community of people that not only appreciates hand knitted items but art in general because after all, knitting is fiber art.
They are all just as passionate about knitting as I am and actually understand knit speak.
Some of the best conversations I've ever had have been in a knitting circle and often times I've walked away learning something new or feeling encouraged.
It has given me a way to create anywhere I want!
The car (not while I'm driving), the waiting room, a park, restaurants, intermissions, vacations, meetings, work breaks, nap times, play dates, coffee dates...
You get the picture...

I've been a part of peoples Christmas', family photos, newborn announcements, business', fundraisers, memories...
And what's even cooler is that I've had the honor of teaching people the very thing (but not the only thing) that has brought such purpose into my life, in hopes that it will mean as much to them as it does to me.

Knitting helped me work through the grief of a miscarriage.
Medical scares and uncertainties with my son.
Post traumatic stress after almost losing my daughter to an unexpected complication.

Knitting has been my anti-anxiety,
my stress reliever,
and my most loyal friend.

And now you know why I knit.

Blessings,

-C