Spiralling Out again

Writing a blog is hard. Which is weird because my friends would tell you, I always have something to say. I've written and re-written novels, but a little blog about my knitting life? Hard. I always have loads of ideas and then no idea how to start, so this is how I start.

I learned to knit when I was 8, so now I have over 40 years of knitting experience. I've knitted a lot of things. The number of stitches that I (or any average knitter) have knitted in more than 40 years is incalculable. When I worked out how many stitches there were in each mandala I made (95,584 stitches plus), its huge!

So why do I do it? Every time I start a new work, experiment with new combinations of colours, it sparks something inside me, and its not what you think. It's not always a joy. Sometimes I'm knitting because I want to keep my brain and hands busy with something that could go on forever. I may start off with a dark heart at the centre, but by the time I reach the edge of it, and I'm glad to finish that piece off and go on to try something else, something new and wonderful and I will have no idea how it will go until I pick the colours and cast on. This isn't to say that I never plan, because I do, at each increase stage, but I never know what the whole will look at until the end.

Writing novels and engaging with characters that I had invented, used to be my mental health solution. Now that I've pulled back on my writing, knitting mandalas is my new focal point and knitting in spirals keeps me sane.