When the task is done beforehand, then it is easy

When the task is done beforehand, then it is easy.

-- Yuan-tong

So true. Sometimes I actually like to work out the pattern as I'm knitting, especially if it's something complex I haven't done before. But the pleasure of doing an easy pattern or one I've done before is that I can knit the piece in my head first. Then my hands just have to catch up.

Mom's Golf Sweater Vest

I love it when a simple pattern turns into just what it says it will. The "Boogie" pattern from Knitty
has a picture that's a little unclear about the neckline, looking more like a V-neck than it actually is, but when the sweater's on, it works out just fine, especially with a collared shirt, like a polo shirt.



Made with Brown Sheep, size small, so it only took two skeins. Mom wants another one, so I got some nice green sage from Zara, Filatura di Crosa. I should be able to get to that in a couple weeks.

Here's a scarf for a friend who was graduating.

Here's a scarf for a friend who was graduating. I made it for her just as the weather got warm, so she hasn't really worn it yet, but she says she likes it! She's a tall, thin girl with smooth white skin and black-brown hair, so I got this gauzy veragated mohair and did it up in a seafoam pattern, a little over six feet long. The yarn and pattern really work well together, I think.

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.

-- Dogen

The first cool thing I knitted

You can see a bit of my first scarf up there at the top, but the "cool" thing is the pattern on the purple square. I made about a dozen of these squares as knitting practice, and this was the first hard one that came out right.

Oh, I did think eventually I was going to take all the squares and knit them together to make a throw, but then I realized that the different colors I was knitting with should never be made to exist together in time and space.

Humble (and then some) Knitting/Zen Beginnings

I remember a brief attempt to knit sometime around age seven. I finished a scarf for my Barbie in blue wool, then forgot all about it.

Then, in July of 2004, I read The Martini Diet: The Self-Indulgent Way to a Thinner, More Fabulous You!, by Jen Sander. Now this is totally not my usual kind of book, but I adored the title (because I adore martinis), and the Amazon reviews showed it wasn't really a diet book. (As far as I can tell, the only way to lose actual weight from a diet book is to buy one heavy enough to use as a barbell.) Among her nuggets of wisdom -- which include advising us to swim for exercise, because "underwater your diamonds look HUGE" -- was the idea that if you snack while watching TV, you should try knitting as a better way to keep your hands busy.

I thought that was a clever idea, so I bought some ecru cotton yarn and some size 8 needles at Wal*Mart, read over the basics on knitting.about.com, and made another scarf -- this one about seven feet long, in stockinette. The first foot or so looked a little like ass when I was done, but by the end I had those stitches down.

Since then, I've been knitting with a passion. I probably have avoided a few pounds from not snacking in front of the TV, but that stopped being a motivation about half-way through that first scarf. So great a part of my life has this little hobby become that I have had to ask myself, "What the heck is going on?"

Is it the yarn? All those beautiful colors. Al those textures. I love the feel of alpaca, the fuzz of mohair, the strength of wool.

Is it the knitting books? All those cool pictures to inspire one to knitting greatness. The coded patterns that make one feel like some sort of knitting spy.

Is it the concept of making something useful with one's own hands? My job is about knowledge and service. I have no product when I'm done. And yeah, I have Websites that I run, but you can't put on your Website and go out to dinner

Is it the endless possibilities for making gifts? I love giving hand-knitted things to people, making them something that really is unique (that's such an abused word), hoping they can wear it and enjoy it.

And well, yes, it's all these things...and none of them. I can read pretty books on anything, play with colors and textures in paints or fabrics, and make useful things with wood. Ultimately, it really just comes down to the actual knitting itself.

The concentration and manual dexterity required for knitting has an almost magical quality of uniting mind and body that is just soooo relaxing, so soothing, so...zen.

My interest in zen philosophies has an even more embarrassing origin than a diet-and-lifestyle book: Kung Fu.

Remember the show? With David Carradine? Some of the stuff they talked about just blew my tiny mind.

As with knitting, I had a renewed interest as an adult and struggled my way through things like The Sixth Patriarch's Sutra and The Miracle of Mindfulness. Eventually, I grew comfortable with the understanding that I would always view Eastern philosophies with a Western mindset.

For one thing, so much zen thinking is expressed for some male monk in a temple on a mountain somewhere. Sitting for hours, letting go all worldly goods, social withdrawal, etc., just isn't practical for a gal living in the big city, you know?

For another, I don't believe in the tao, or in nothingness. I have no desire to become a Buddhist, as much as I admire so much of Buddhism. I'm definitely a God/Christ/Heaven/Earth kind of thinker -- though much of organized Christian religion appalls me.

Understanding and accepting that, however, has allowed me to learn so much about living a happy and productive life with such ideals as finding my "original face" and "having a mind like water."

The more I learn about zen precepts, the more I understand my love of knitting. The more I knit, the more zen I feel. And that's why I decided to try this blog: to celebrate the zen of knitting.

I made this for a friend who loves soft pinks and blues.

I made this for a friend who loves soft pinks and blues. The pattern is simple, and the scarf wraps nicely around the neck, holding its shape so you can tuck your chin inside when the wind blows.







Materials:

2 Skeins Light Blue Cashmere (190 yrds each)
2 Skeins Light Pink Chenille
1 Skein Pink Baby Cotton
1 Pair #8 Needles

I worked all but the fringe with both chenille and cashmere yarns at once, with a basic stockinette stitch 32 stitches across. For the pattern, I did 5 rows of RT, worked 6 rows stockinette, then another 5 in RT.

I knitted the long stockinette part until I was about done (left a few yards to make sure) with the first skein, then called that "halfway," repeated the same number of rows, then repeated the RT/stockinette pattern. Then I added fringe and viola!

Hello

A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction
between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure;
his mind and his body; his education and his recreation.
He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision
of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves
others to determine whether he is working or playing. To
himself, he always appears to be doing both.

- Francoise Rene Auguste Chateaubriand