Why Do You Knit?

I think every Knitter out there has had someone come up to them at one point or another to discuss how it is easier to just go out and buy a sweater or a pair of socks or a blanket... Why spend time making it? I've had a couple of people ask me this in the past couple of weeks and I have been thinking a lot about it lately. Partly because as the Seasons change I am always in a contemplative mood where I take a personal inventory of sorts and assess where I am versus where I want to be, and partly because I started teaching a girl at little man's school how to crochet and in 2 weeks 1 girl has turned into 3. This makes me incredibly excited - granted it's a bit slow going at the moment but they are starting to get excited about what they could make and what they can do with yarn. I don't know that you can teach excitement about the fiber arts; you just have to feel it and you either feel it or you don't and if you don't, you ask people who do why they make things.

There are several reasons why I knit.

1. It makes me happy.
2. I love the feeling of making a stitch pattern work out in a particular project.
3. It feels right.
4. Not having some sort of project in my hands feels so very very wrong.
5. Casting on has it's own distinct buzz of excitement.
6. Binding off has a different buzz of excitement because you have something tangible and fabulous in your hands.
7. I can look at all the little "v's" and know that I made each one.
8. Whenever I knit something for someone else I am thinking about that person with each stitch and once I gift it to them, whether they know that fact or not, they are experiencing those happy vibes whenever they touch it/wear it.
9. One of my purposes in life is to make sure my children are never cold.
10. One knitter at a time, we can get rid the world of commercial socks all together.
11. There's nothing more comfortable than a perfectly fitting pair of handknit socks.
12. I never tire of watching cables evolve.
13. Similarly, with colorwork I can create my own little masterpiece.
14. Knitting feels like home and my minions can already feel that.
15. It's wonderfully tactile, practical, and the sky's the limit as to what you can create.
16. Stash = Possibilities
17. I get to play around with colors.
18. I get to use all that math that I never thought I would when I was in school.
19. I found out that gauge isn't necessarily the enemy. Well, not all the time ;)
20. The list goes on and one, but in closing...

Handknit socks are appropriate for even the fanciest of occasions.

Why do you knit?