The Wild Life and Times of a Botanical Geek

I can proudly say that I'm a self-taught knitter. I got a book and a beginning knitting kit, and over the course of the nearly two weeks I spent at my aunt's house in August of 2006, I taught myself how to knit. I've since been supplementing my knowledge with sites like knittinghelp.com, and I think at this point I'm a reasonably competent knitter.

The book I got had instructions for how to knit right-handed or left-handed. This was very important for me, considering that I am an impossible leftie. There are a few things I do with my right hand, like operate scissors and use a mouse, but for the most part, I'm all left, all the time. This has proved a real problem when it comes to things like tying knots. Try as I might, I can't tie a knot in the "standard" style. It took me forever to learn how to tie my shoes, and that was only after my left-handed aunt helped me. When I learned how to tie an herbarium knot (a handy little knot used for packaging loans), I had to watch the curator do it a few times, then finagle my own mirror form of it.

So with left-handed instructions, I learned how to knit. This has been alright so far, as most of the things I've knitted are essentially symmetrical. However, I've been working on my first piece of actual clothing, and I'm finding that it's a problem. The instructions are essentially backwards to me. The result is that I'm trying to reverse the instructions as I go, and I don't know how well that's going to work out in the end.

I'm thinking I need to learn how to knit right-handed. I learned English style, but from what little I've read, continental style can be easily done by lefties. I've been kinda wanting to learn continental anyway, since it's supposedly more efficient. I think the Dulaan scarves I want to do might be a good way to learn it, since they're gonna be pretty simple ribbed ones, so I could learn knit and purl stitches that way. So are any of you knitting folkses continental knitters? How easy/hard was it for you to learn?

Apparently it's now illegal to throw bottles away in NC. That's right folks. Recycle, or ELSE. XD Since we recycle anyway, I don't see it as a big deal, but I still find it amusing that this is now law.

Either way, this prompted a small rant on my part last night, when Dad was talking about it, remarking that a bottle is defined as a container with an opening that's smaller than the bottom. This made Mom note that some jars have tops that are smaller than the bottom, and it also brought up the question of where cans and jars fall into this scheme.

I subsequently started declaring that they really need to do a morphometric analysis to determine a stable species concept for bottles, cans, and jars. How much smaller should the opening be in order to be defined as a bottle? Are there jar subspecies that are like bottles? These questions really need to be answered. Someone develop a dichotomous key!

I spend WAY too much time measuring things.

On a selfish note, I've been a little disgruntled over the fact that NOBODY has noticed my stormwater scarf--a scarf that was about two years in the making, and that I've finally finished (which reminds me, I should take pictures of it). And now that the weather's cooling off, I've been sporting it a fair bit. I think it's a gorgeous scarf, personally, not to mention it's my first attempt at lace. Considering the amount of time it took, it'd be nice if somebody said "Hey, that's a pretty scarf." Admittedly, I generally don't wear it while I'm inside, but it's been laying on the back of my chair for all to see, and people I know see me wearing it as I come in. I know it's not that big of a deal, and hey, *I* like it, and I love wearing it, so it's serving its purpose. It's just be nice for somebody to notice it, considering the amount of time and effort it took. Ah well.

I've been meaning to share some photos of a few projects I've completed. <3 Because I love sharing knitting love!

( SOCKS! :D )

( The Anahita Bag! )

OMG you guys. I've just finished the first of a pair of socks. It involved a lot of new techniques for me, including kitchener's stitch and a little bit of a lacey feature. Of course I just had to try it on. It FITS. Holy cow it fits beautifully. It's like this sock was MADE for me. Which it was.

I am typing this with one sock on that doesn't have a mate (yet), and I don't care. SOCK. :D

....*SIGH*

This is the second in-the-round knitting project I've started in the past week and now have to disassemble because I managed to twist the loop.

*beats head against wall*