Journal Four

November 1, 2004

Anne Macdonald’s piece, “Knitting Now and Whitherknit?” led me to a conclusion about which I have often thought. I think that knitting and other handcrafts have always been popular on college campuses because it is a way of calming and coping. Students entering into college are coping with leaving home for the first time, making new friends, and finding an identity in a brand new environment. I think that knitting offers soothing relief for college students, in addition to providing community with fellow knitters. I learned to knit on December 29, 2001, the day after my 19th birthday and my first birthday as a college student. In retrospect, now I see that I used knitting throughout the rest of my freshman year to bring my thoughts and myself together. My dog has a plush toy that is his pacifier—now I see that knitting needles are my figurative pacifier.
After reading Lisa Myers’ piece, I think I am ready to taking my obsession with knitting a step further. I am composing a blog for a project at work, and this has made me want to personally enter the blogging world. The biggest problem for me is that I am a very personal and private person, and I could never imagine posting my life electronically. I do not even keep a written journal! In class last Monday, you made a great suggestion about keeping a knitting notebook, and I immediately knew that I wanted to keep one. This is coupled with a letter from my grandma in Minnesota, thanking me for visiting her recently. She asked me to take photos of the knitting I worked on during my visit, so that she can see the finished products and show them to her sister. When I was reading Myers’ suggestion to electronically inventory supplies, everything came together for me. I have decided to keep a knitting notebook online, probably through Blogspot.com. I plan to blog on my individual projects, and to keep notes just as one would keep notes in a knitting notebook. I can borrow my boyfriend’s digital camera so that I can post photos.
Getting all this down in my last journal is incredibly helpful for me. It is so fitting that I had this knitting revelation during my last journal, as it is a accumulation of all the wonderful, new things I learned in this class. But it is also a springboard for me, as I (grudgingly) leave this class and begin the rest of my life. My knitting blog will also give me an opportunity I have wanted for so long—to journal on the people I am knitting for and the reasons I am creating something for them. My desire to blog has finally met its match! My blog has a focus point—my knitting and the people I knit for. At the same time, I feel like I am blogging about something very personal, but at the same time, not very private.
I know this journal is a bit short, but visit http://mariaknits.blogspot.com. You won’t be disappointed.