Resolutions

It's a bit late for New Year's resolutions, but my husband and I are thinking more about New Life's resolutions.  A big move is a good time to make changes, so we've been told (and so I know from dog-training), and there are some changes we would like to make. 

Change #1: Yarn

Those of you who know me know how I feel about knitting: I love it.  While I was writing my dissertation, I received a fully justified warning from a friend: "You can't knit your dissertation, you know."  True.  But during those years of dissertation-writing, I did knit six hats, two scarves, five pairs of socks (and two stray socks), two toy elephants, three pairs of mittens, four pairs of fingerless mittens, a lap blanket, eight cat-toy mice, and four sweaters.  (This does not include unfinished or work-in-progress projects, either!)  (Actually, seeing this list, I am amazed that I DID finish my dissertation.)  Call it therapy, call it an obsession, call it my creative outlet-- whatever.  Knitting is what I do when I'm not reading, writing, teaching, eating, or spending time with Mieko and his dad.

So what is the big change?  It is not stopping knitting (perish the thought!) or getting rid of excess yarn (see below).  Instead, I am making a commitment to being better informed and more careful of where my yarn comes from.  I am still reading Farm Sanctuary, and I recently learned more about how sheep (or other animals raised for wool) are treated in large-scale operations.  I will spare my readers the details.  Let me just say that, if a yarn comes from a big company, you should think twice about how those animals were treated.  And if the yarn is cheap, then the company's regard for animal life probably is, too.  So I have made a tearful resolution to investigate the source of my yarn and to buy only yarn that comes from humanely-treated animals: local spinners, eco-yarn companies, and so on.

Yes, this might limit my knitting options, but I have become a glutton for yarn.  It wouldn't be a bad idea to reign that in, either.  Over the 15 years of starting and abandoning projects, having leftover yarn, having eyes bigger than my stomach (so to speak), and knowing knitters who are more reasonable about their yarn collecting (in that they periodically share the wealth of their collections with me!), I have built up quite a stash.  This is par for the course.  Ask any knitter.  Happily for me, if I cease buying yarn right now, I could knit for years using just what I have at home.  And, let's face it, one of the great (?) things about this day and age is that knitting is truly a hobby.  I don't knit a pair of socks because I need them, because otherwise I will have no socks at all.  (As a relative said to me once, "You can buy those at the store, you know.")  Instead, I knit because I like it, because it's creative, because it's enjoyable.  My enjoyment, however, should not come at the cost of human or animal pain.  Thus, we have our first Portland resolution.

For more information about animal products and their alternatives, see this link: 

http://www.vegforlife.org/wears.htm