Deliberate Practice

I spent my weekend at Embrace UX, a user experience conference, which I went to because it related to my major in Computer Science. Throughout the conference I found myself making connections to knitting (oddly enough), particularly during a talk done by Verne Ho which was a talk I took a lot away from. He talked about deliberate practice, which relates to my studies but also to almost everything in my life: hobbies, relationships, work. I don’t want any aspect of my life to be mediocre, but that’s something I have to work on, I can’t just expect good things to happen by only putting the time in.

I often knit a pattern multiple times because I know I will like the pattern, I can knit the piece well and I know I will like the outcome of the project. I’m taking this safe route because it’s comfortable and I’m not really improving much, even though I’m putting tons of time in. I’m sure you’ve all heard that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something, but this weekend we talked about how this is only true if you’re spending those hours wisely, doing different and challenging projects as often as you can, getting help from mentors, asking questions, doing research, and taking risks.   

“Practicing something for 10,000 hours -or for any amount of time- is only worth a damn if you’re spending the entirety of that practice time completely focused on improvement” -Ryan Hamrick  

None of this is to say that you don’t need to put the time in, it’s a given that you have to. But you get out from your time what you put in, so learning to learn is one of the best things you can do.

Anyways this is something that’s been on my mind so I thought I’d share this  with you. What do you think? Is knitting a time for you to relax, and do you even want to think about learning while you do it? Sometimes that’s the case for me, but knitting something you didn’t think you were capable of making is so rewarding. I want to be able to knit any pattern I come across, and eventually I would like to be able to design anything I can dream of as well, so I will start my 10,000 hours of deliberate practice today.

Christmas Knitting

This year is the first that I’ve made knitted Christmas gifts for my family and friends. I actually thought to start early enough this year so I’ve had time to knit for pretty much everyone on my list. I also bought some presents to go along with what I made, but I’m most excited to give the gifts I’ve been putting so much time into. 

For my friends I knit socks. I had a sock phase earlier in the year after I learned to make my first pair during the summer, and even though I haven’t made myself a pair yet I made a pair for each of my close friends. Now that I’m done my Christmas knitting though I’ve finally cast on a pair for myself, so hopefully by the new year I’ll get to put on my first pair of hand-knit socks.

For my immediate family I knit matching hats with our last name sewn into them. This is actually a pattern I’ve been working on the past couple months and it will be released in a couple days. I knit my grandparents a santa ornament for their tree and I’ll be wrapping my partner’s present in a hand-knit stocking this year.

This year I decided to wrap everything in simple kraft paper. I used gold ribbon, pinecones, and bells to accent the presents and I really like how they all turned out. I would love to hear about what you knit your family and friends for Christmas this year!

Knitting for Others

When I’m watching a movie and I don’t have the mental capacity for the process of writing my own patterns I love working on quick projects that I don’t have to think too hard about. Right now  I’m working on making baby hats and since I don’t have a baby myself (and if I did it definitely wouldn’t need this many hats) I’m going to be donating them to the hospital in my area. I like working on projects like this because I find knitting multiples of a pattern relaxing, and it feels good to know that someone in need will be getting something that was handmade with love.

My grandma used to knit pneumonia vests for children in Africa, which were used to keep sick children warm. I remember she would send them off about once a year, and she would have about 50 of them to send off which I always thought was really impressive.

Some other projects I’ve heard of are knitted hats for soldiers, warm clothes and winter accessories for local shelters, and even knitted jumpers to protect penguins from oil spills. The penguin jumper story went viral a while back so they put an announcement up saying they didn’t need any more, but I do understand why so many people wanted to knit cute little jumpers for penguins.

Have you knit any projects similar to these ones? I’d love to hear about them!

Newborn Hats: http://www.themakeyourownzone.com/2011/03/knitting-newborn-hats-for-hospitals.html

Hats for Soldiers: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ribbed-watchmans-hat

Penguin Jumpers: http://penguinfoundation.org.au/about-the-penguin-foundation/wildlife-rehabilitation/

Notions Bag

After carrying various Ziploc bags full of random notions around with all of my projects I’ve decided it’s time to make a permanent toolkit. One that has everything I need for every project, so I can grab it along with whatever project I decide to work on that day. I’ve been using this one for a couple months now and I haven’t needed to add anything, so it feels complete for the time being. I thought I’d empty it and let you know what I’ve been taking everywhere with me.

Bag: The clear bag is from KnitPicks. It works well for me because I’m not digging around looking for my smaller notions, I can see everything and grab exactly what I need. I also like the way all my tools look in the bag, because I think some of them are pretty cute. $3.99

Pens and notebook: I use this little notebook all the time, for jotting down pattern ideas and also for making notes about where I am in a pattern. Sometimes I’ll change a pattern as I’m knitting to suit my needs, so I like to keep track of those sorts of things.

Scissors: This pretty pair of black scissors is from Lantern moon. Scissors are definitely my most used item here. $19.95

Stitch markers: I keep a tiny bag of stitch markers with me. The duck ones are from Lantern moon and they make me so happy when I use them. I also have a couple other random markers that I carry, including a removable one. $11.00

Repair hook and finishing needles: This is the first repair hook I’ve had, and it pretty much works the same as a crochet hook does. I mainly use it when I drop stitches. I got it from Lantern Moon and it came in a cute little pouch, which I store my tapestry needles in as well. $10.50

Needle point protectors: I only really use these when I’m bringing a project(usually socks) on the go with me. When I’m carrying my project in a soft cloth bag they keep the needles from poking through the material. These ones are from KnitPicks and they come in a pack of four. $1.19

Interchangeable needle cable ends: I use the interchangeable knitting needles from KnitPicks, and they come with these twist on caps, so you can keep a project on the cable and use the needles from that project for something else. To be honest I’ve never used these, but I keep them in here just in case the time comes.

Knitting gauge & ruler: I picked this up at a dollar store near my house, and it’s definitely a tool I recommend every knitter gets. When I started working with DPN’s and circulars, I realized not all needles are nicely labelled, so it’s great to have this for reference!

Stitch holders: Again I picked these up at a local dollar store. They come in handy so I would definitely recommend getting a couple.

Cable needle: This one is from KnitPicks. I haven’t actually knit a project with cables in a while, but I keep one in case the feeling ever hits to cable something! $4.49

Crochet hooks: I like using crochet hooks to do certain edges and to pull in loose ends, so I always keep a couple sizes with me.

Measuring tape: This one isn’t a necessity, because the ruler is usually long enough for most projects, but sometimes I have bigger things to measure and a 6-inch ruler just won’t cut it for me. This sunflower one is from Lantern Moon and I love how cute it looks. $12.10

Do you keep a similar bag to this? I’d love it if you let me know what you keep in yours below!