Knitting & Confidence

What the hell does that title mean? Robin, is this going to be a motivational blog entry? No, people. It's me talking about what's on my mind. Go back to my page and it will say that this blog is about knitting, rants and streams of consciousness. I was just thinking about my knitting and how I sometimes have to deal a with lack of confidence in my favorite hobby. What do I mean by that? I know that I can knit like a mofo! I am good, no, very good! I produce really nice things but now that I'm starting to promote them, I've started to doubt my abilities. Why? I ask myself all the time. Is it something from my childhood? Did I have an incident that made me this way? I can't think of anything. Is it that I'm just not a good self-promoter or salesperson? My husband is a great salesperson. I hear him on the phone all the time doing his recruiting thing. He speaks with such confidence and integrity. He has a stellar reputation in his field. Maybe that's it. I'm a good knitter for myself and maybe not for others. Freud, are you listening?

In order to get over this lack-of-confidence hump, I decided to put myself out there. I am listing things on etsy.com (I'm www.baasheep2.etsy.com) I list my items with such pride because I love the way they turn out. I once had to bring one of my sweaters into the fabric store to get the just right button. People were coming up to me oohing and aahing over the sweater. I felt like a million bucks! I walked out of there, with the buttons, feeling like the best knitter in the world. I couldn't wait to list it. Now that I did, everyday I look at my e-mails hoping for a message saying that it sold. I swear it's like the lottery, waiting for your numbers to come up. I must admit that I get a little rush every time I check! Then when I see that the message isn't there, I give a little sigh, talk to my dog and move on.

I feel by writing about this in this very public forum, I am doing a little self-therapy. It's amazing that as an adult, how I can feel this way when I am a confident person in all my other aspects of my life. Maybe it's because my knitting is very personal, it's an extension of me. I wonder if artists feel the same way. So ends my rant of the day. I thank myself for the space and I'm off to check my messages. Peace out my readers!

I'm Ready to Hurl

Knitters don't like to stop knitting, no matter what is going on around them. We are the species that always says "Just let me finish this row" to put off requests others make of us that would make us put down our knitting. Today, I had to put down my knitting. I went into my kitchen to get a piece of paper and noticed that the pad was wet on the bottom. I figured my husband spilled something and didn't wipe it up. No, I wish that was the case. There was a watermelon sitting on the counter and when I turned it over, the thing literally threw up all over my counter. Guess it was a bit rotten? (My husband is a fruit and veggie fanatic) It was so disgusting and smelly that I really thought I was going to lose it. Then I realized that the juice slipped between my stove and the counter it was sitting on. I had to pull out the stove and almost lost it again. I won't go into detail but it was horrific what was doing there. Two rolls of paper towels and one Magic Eraser later, I cleaned it up. My stomach is still feeling queasy.

The moral of the story? Put the goddamn watermelon in the fridge!

hipknitta is back!

Oh my people, where has this hipknitta been? I apologize for the long, long stretch of time between posts. It's been a very busy time for me and unfortunately it was not related to knitting even though I knitted throughout this time. But I am back, with a vengeance to rant, rave and ramble about knitting and anything else I deem as important to me!

My creative juices have been flowing. I designed a baby sweater and hat set that I absolutely love. Even my older son was impressed. That was a big deal for me! I saw the yarn and this idea popped into my head. I was very pleased with the results. You can see more views of it on www.baasheep2.etsy.com. I hope someone out there loves it as much as me to gift a baby with it. I also knitted a sweater that uses a traditional feather and fan pattern.
I have a more unisex cardigan on my needles as I write this which should be done by the end of this week. Stay tuned.

Now for my ranting: First, the oil spill in the Gulf. I'm not a very political person but I heard a commentator last night say that this disaster was a fight between the politicians and the oil companies. He was hinting that the politicians were bowing down to the oil companies with the Coast Guard spokesman, Thad Allen, acting as a mediator. Seriously, the political machine should have just come down on BP and make them work their asses off to get that cap on sooner. It made me physically ill to watch that oil gushing into the sea. I can't even imagine how the people living on the shores of the Gulf feel. It will never be the same.

My husband and I are temporary empty nesters while our boys spend the summer at camp. We decided that we would starve to send them away because it is that important to us. However, our older son is now a "leader-in-training" and his tuition is a lot less than our younger one. We just got back from visiting day and I miss them more than ever for some strange reason. Absence does make the heart grow fonder. It's just me and Shadow who is taking a long snooze on the couch. A shout out to Tony and Katie for taking such great care of him while we visited the boys. Shadow spent the weekend with his bitches. I will be knitting them hoodies to keep them warm in the winter. Ohh, perish that winter thought! Being an empty nester means that when I clean an area, it stays clean. I find that I have a lot of time on my hands and need lists to keep me organized and focus. Yes, knitting is on that list. I have to clean the boys' rooms because let's face it. They're pigs.

So let me go back to my list to see what's next. But rest assured. This hipknitta is back!