Wednesday, August 1, 2007

MMM Fixation.

Hi, I'm Michelle! I blog over at Vegan Purls and am always looking for new vegan knitting buddies, so feel free to pop over and say hi if you feel so inclined. I've been knitting since about December 2004, so three and a half years, though knit-blogging for just short of a year. Knitting was a major coping mechanism for getting through my last two years of college, especially while writing my thesis, and continues to be something that gives me a comforting sense of productivity. I'm also tired of the work-and-buy lifestyle that is so dominant in our culture, and it means a lot to me to make something with my hands and personally know the process by which it was made, what materials it was made from, the time involved, etc. rather than buying a mass-produced object made far away by someone I will never know. I also love being able to customize items to match my ethical preferences, my body size/shape, and my sometimes-unusual color tastes (my favorite is mustard yellow). My favorite yarns are by Rowan since they make such great cotton yarns and blends, my current obsession being Calmer and I can't wait to make some socks out of it! Socks were the first thing I learned to knit after the obligatory scarf, I'd only been knitting several months before I completed my first pair, which ended up being toe-up with short-row heels. I'm excited to learn the afterthought heel and some new toe-up methods. Like Cass, I have accrued quite the sock yarn stash though my experience with socks has been relatively limited! (I've only completed that first pair.) Hopefully I'll be posting again soon with some completed Jaywalkers using Panda Cotton, which would bring me to two pairs of completed socks in my lifetime, haha. Other than socks I'm obsessed with shrugs and am itching to knit my first cardigan. In the meantime I'll be watching the KAL for inspiration! Thanks so much to Kala for starting this blog!

4 comments:

affectioknit2 said...

Hi Michelle,

Good luck with your socks - I found a pretty circular shrug pattern at

http://www.geocities.com/julsey723/circular_shrug.pdf

I've added it to my list of things to make...

Dawn said...

Hi Michelle,
I liked your sentiment on consumerism. I have spent the last several years trying to be less consumerastic (SP?) and more thoughtful in my purchasing needs/desires. I'd like to add that not only is it disheartening to purchase something made from a person long and far away in another land, it is also hard purchase the item when you know he or she didn't make a fair wage.
As I've become more of an activist, it is interesting to find that animal rights and human rights frequently don't seem to mix. I really appreciated your introduction, which took these ideas into mind.
Sorry for the long comment, not sure what is appropriate.
Dawn

VeganCraftastic said...

Ooh, I bet socks made out of Calmer would be so comfy!

Anonymous said...

Thanks all for the comments! Affectioknitter, I love that pattern you linked. I must confess, though, the instructions intimidate me -- I'm not very good at interpreting schematics. If you end up knitting it, I'd love to see how it turned out and how you did it!

Dawn, I can't agree with you more. I was kind of worried that the ethical content of my post might come across as too serious/boring and wouldn't be of interest to anyone.

Kala, I don't know if you know, but there's a pattern for socks in the Rowan Calmer Collection... I wonder why there aren't more out there in internetland. Well, I'll certainly post about them if I make them! I think they'd be super comfy, too.