The Happy Makers: Knitting

Now, this is a fairly new one. I used to be the kind of person that would pick up some kind of craft, and never see it through. But this time I'm actually enjoying knitting. Maybe because I have a pattern that I'm following, or maybe I've simply become less uncoordinated. Where knitting used to send me into a fit of rage, I now find it kind of calming. So knitting is number 2 in my Happy Makers series.

The last time I attempted knitting, I joined a website called Lion Brand Yarn, a free source of knitting lessons, knitting patterns, and tons of great crafty things. This is where I learned how to cast-on, do the knit and purl stitches, and bind off. When I get to something in a pattern that I'm not sure of, I head back to the learning centre and figure it out there.

I'm currently using a Lion Brand Yarn pattern to knit a neck tie for my boyfriend. I've messed up in a couple of places because I had never used seed stitch before, but after googling some tutorials on seed stitch to figure out where I was going wrong, I've finally gotten the hang of it. It's only 15cm long at the moment, but I'm getting quicker at knitting rows.




15cm down, only a whole lot more to go!

 

Oh also, I had a random knitted square of red wool that I'd been practicing knitting with... Learning how to increase/decrease, getting good at both the purl and knit stitches. Anyway, I didn't think I'd ever find a use for it. After I binded off I showed my big, dumb, red square to my sister, who grabbed it off me, attached a button to one side, and suggested I put it on the cat! I did, and well...

So proud of her new cape.

She looks pretty gorgeous if you ask me. I think I really have to start worrying when even my kitty cat wearing a kitty-sized cape doesn't make me happy.

The Happy Makers: Climbing

In line with my new motto (see my previous post), I want to figure out what things make me happy, what I want to do more of, and find some motivation to actually do them. So here is the first part of my new blog series, "The Happy Makers". Hopefully reading about my plans, and finding out a little more about me will be interesting for some of you. :)

I decided to start the series with something that has made me happy for an impressive number of years: Rock climbing. I started rock climbing with my sister and dad in 1999 (I was 8), and we all started entering competitions later that year. My sister competed in the Junior X-Games in Thailand... AND WON! She won the family a trip back to Thailand, where we did some more climbing! So climbing quickly became a thing that our family was known for. My mum even gave it a shot once (and never again).

Climbing was my gateway to exploring the world, meeting new people, and experiencing brand new things.





Me climbing in Arco, Italy (photo by Connor Macpherson)

  I went to my first international competition in 2005. I did terribly because A) it was around a thousand degrees in Beijing, and B) a muesli bar got attached to my shoe. I fell off my first climb almost instantly. I cried (of course) but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't a big deal. I went to the next 3 years of world youth championships in Austria, Ecuador, and Sydney, Australia, my home. I did better in those years, but was never at the same level as the people in Europe for whom climbing was their whole life.

I always loved climbing, but there were a lot of other things I wanted to do as well. Training for competitions was just climbing twice a week with my dad, and the one time that I did have a formal coach, it didn't work out so well. But I definitely miss climbing. I stopped competing during my final year of high school, which in retrospect, was a stupid idea. I didn't end up relying on my final marks to get into university, and have never gotten back into climbing since then. As they say, hindsight is 20/20.

SO! I'm going to go to the climbing centre with my dad every 2 weeks (he goes every week, but with everything I'm planning on doing, I think every fortnight is more realistic). It isn't far to travel after work, plus I don't actually do anything physical anymore so my bones/muscles will probably appreciate being used for more than just holding my body together. I got a message from my dad last night, and tomorrow night I will be climbing for the first time in far too long. :)