With that said, one of the first things I am thankful for is the gift of knitting [2].
I first learned to knit about two-and-a-half years ago when I was searching for my first job after college. I had spent five years in a constant state of activity and I did not have a lot to keep me busy while I waited for call-backs on job applications. While walking through Wal-Mart's craft section with a friend (I think he was looking for tie-dye) I saw the Knifty Knitter Round Loom Set and mentioned to him that I was thinking about picking the hobby up to have something to do and feel productive. I thought he would laugh it off but then he told me that he would teach me how to really knit. Turns out my friend was some sort of award winning knitter back home. We picked up some needles and yarn before heading back to the house I was living in at the time. That night he showed me the basics.
I went back out to get the looms the next day [3] as I preferred both the ease and the fact that you can pop out a nice hat in the time it takes to watch a movie. It has been over two years since I first picked up the craft and I have actually come to the point of forgetting how many hats (and scarves) that I have made. I took or have obtained a few photos of my creations which I will post below.
This skill has been a major blessing, especially since I have been on the job search again. It gives me something that I can do that is productive, can be done along with other things, and that can be used to bless people with some heart-made gifts. It is something simple that I can do to make people feel special while providing for a basic need. As time has gone by it has also sparked more creativity on my part. Involving more colors (or color swapping for stripes), the use of more threads for each row, attachments, decorative stitching, reversible layers, pom-poms, and other add-ons to create some nifty utilitarian art.
I have found that another blessing has come from those to whom I give these creations. Unlike some adult friends (none pictured) who seem to immediately ask for a price [4], my kids seem to immediately understand that these are gifts. Because of this they teach me an important spiritual lesson. They know they cannot compensate me so they do not try, they just enjoy the gift - they use it, they appreciate it. This is something that I need to remember to do with the gifts God gives to me. I can never repay Him. That would be beyond my ability. I must receive with thanks and put these gifts to good use.
Marshall rockin' the first hat I ever made (with Josh making lunch or something).
Kyle rockin' the second hat I ever made.
H.L. rockin' the third hat I ever made. I actually experimented with using two strands of yarn instead of just one for a thicker hat. This soon became my basic hat method.
Some of my friends' kids used a scarf I made for them on a snowman while wearing the matching hat. This scarf was a tube scarf made with a hat loom before I actually bought the long loom for making scarves.
Made a very small hat for my friends' very small daughter. I do not know why it looks like the sides are sticking out like cat ears though.
One of a set of matching green and blue striped pom-pom hats for some friends' daughters. My first time making pom-poms.
Several other projects had been made during and after the time shown above, I just never got pictures.
One of my recent projects that was inspired by a comment by a friend was to make some reversible hats of the four ghosts from Pac-Man (clockwise from left: Pinky, Inky, Blinks, and Clyde):
Which flip inside out to become the ghosts after Pac-Man eats a power pellet.
And, again, other hats came after these. At some point I began to experiment more with decorative stitching (embroidery) on the hats. This was my most recent project. It features a red fig tree with green figs and has Proverbs 27:18 as the trunk with John 1:47-51 under the branches. It took a long time (triple-threaded and then the time it took to weave all of that on), but you can tell from the verses that I think highly of the kid who received it - something tells me that boy is going to change the world (something else tells me he has already started).
[1] At least it is in the U.S.
[2] At this point I would like to remind readers that I am, in fact, a man and am, in fact, only interested in women - REAL women.
[3] He was actually a great teacher, I just never could seem to get it going right or fast enough for my tastes.
[4] Note: I have no qualms against doing a paid commission piece. However, I will not take on more than I can handle, I will not promise that any piece will be done by some specific time (I have to say this as I don't want to receive an order in the middle of December for five hats that need to be to someone by Christmas), and I will not make the Pac-Man ghost hats for sale as that would be a copyright nightmare. I also will not recreate the fig tree hat as that was something that was made for a certain person. Furthermore, I have no intention of starting a business from this so please understand that I may not respond like a business to everyone who submits a request to the 'Contact Me' section on the sidebar and it may take me some time to figure out how to set up some method of payment.
Before I forget: I do not own Pac-Man or the ghosts, I just made some fun hats that I did not sell. Namco owns those entities as far as I know.
Nice post; love the hats! Especially the detail on the pac-man ghosts when you flip them inside-out.
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