Penguins, the end.

Penguins need jerseys to help recover after the oil spill!

Aren't they so cute?

The end :)

Comments & References.

So now we come to the end of this blog about knitting. Here are some comments I have left on my classmates blogs:

Judith said...

Lovely pictures Rachael! :)
It's great to hear a bit more about how you set up the photos. Just wondering whether you could explain some of the terms such as "aperature."October 6, 2011 3:03 PM

Judith said...

Cool story Nicole!! I love hearing about the littlest details such as threading the needle and arranging your space, it really paints a lovely clear picture. Just wondering had you considered putting in a bit more about what you were thinking and feeling at the time? This could help you identify the need. Just a thought :) keep up the good work!

Judith said...

Hey Kerryn, I like the depth in this post. It's clear that scrapbooking is a very important part of your life. There are similar things I find with my knitting, the relationship with the past and sense of achievement. Your scrapbooks will be a great way of preserving family history.16 October 2011 14:51

Judith said...

Hey Rachael, I'm doing knitting and finding the need was really hard for me too. There are so many different needs. I agree about having a productive way to spend time. I really enjoyed reading your blog, it would be great to have more stories about your french knitting :)16 October 2011 15:17

References:

Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition.Chicago: University of Chicago.

Caulton, R & Dickson, R. (2007). What's going on? Finding an explanation for what we do. In J. Creek & A. Lawson-Porter (Eds.) Contemporary issues in occupational therapy. Chichester: John-Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Kielhofner, G. (2008). Model of human occupation: Theory and application. Baltimore, MD: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins

Nicholson, H. (1998). The loving stitch: A history of knitting and spinning in New Zealand. Auckland, NZ: Auckland University Press.

Pearl-McPhee, S. (2005). At knit's end: Meditations for women who knit too much. North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing.

Pearl-McPhee, S. (2006). Knitting rules!: the yarn harlot's bag of knitting tricks. North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing.

My needs.

So thinking about my needs in regards to knitting has been challenging. I was struggling to find the words to describe why I knit; until I found these quotes which just say it all:

“...the number one reason knitters knit is because they are so smart that they need knitting to make boring things interesting. Knitters are so compellingly clever that they simply can't tolerate boredom. It takes more to engage and entertain this kind of human, and they need an outlet or they get into trouble." 

 -- Stephanie Pearl-McPhee 

"...knitters just can't watch TV without doing something else. Knitters just can't wait in line, knitters just can't sit waiting at the doctor's office. Knitters need knitting to add a layer of interest in other, less constructive ways.” 

-- Stephanie Pearl-McPhee 

So there you have it I knit because I don't like sitting around doing nothing. My fingers get fidgety and my brain starts drifting off. I also sometimes get annoyed that nothing is getting done, but if I have my knitting to do at least I have something to show for the time I was sitting around either waiting or watching tv.

Need over the past few weeks:
The need I stated above is an overarching need of my life. But I realised that it wasn't specifically the need that knitting is fulfilling. I do fulfill this need with knitting, but if I couldn't knit I would fulfilled it in some other way such as crochet or drawing. So I dove a little deeper and have discovered that the reason I'm knitting at the moment is for my mother. So really the need that knitting is fulfilling in my life at the moment is to maintain my relationship with my mother. It shows her that I use the skills that she's taught me and I put effort and thought into the gifts I give her.

Quotes from this website

Knitting as craft activity & I'm a Knitter!

Knitting is a craft activity. Arendt (1958) defines work as “the work of our hands as distinguished from the labour of our bodies” (p. 136). Through knitting I'm making something that will last for a time. It enables me to create the human world around me. I can use the things I knit to build my identity. If I wear a hat or jersey that I've made I am influencing my persona and in some way influencing the perceptions that people have of me. The part of the human world that relates to me is heavily influenced by knitting. This is the unique ambience of the activity of knitting. 


me the knitter......


Focusing on knitting in depth for this semester has changed the way I look at knitting. I had no idea that the knitting community was so vast. There are all sorts of knitters and they are not at all stereotypical. I have been introduced to the knitters vs non-knitters divide. As I learn more it feels nice to know that I am part of something and I didn't even know it! I am a knitter. Wow! That adds something important to my sense of who I am. It's like a role that I play in my life. Kielhofner (2008) states that the roles we perceive in ourselves become a part of our  understanding of who we are.  Discovering a new role that I have opens up heaps of new possibilities. I had never considered that I might enjoy reading knitting books but now I am really enjoying them. Some are so funny! Here is a piece of advice from one:

"If you find a non-knitter who thinks what you do is clever, beautiful and artistic; who never asks for knitted stuff but wears it with pride when you give it to him or her; and will help you carry home a whole fleece or a stack of stitch dictionaries without once implying that you might want to get a grip--marry that person." 

- Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee

References: 
Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition.Chicago: University of Chicago.

Kielhofner, G. (2008). Model of human occupation: Theory and application. Baltimore, MD: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins

Pearl-McPhee, S. (2006). Knitting rules!: the yarn harlot's bag of knitting tricks. North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing.

Obsessive knitting! Laughing at ourselves.........

"There's a lot of humour in knitting, though I know you wouldn't think it to see yarn just sitting there"

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

Here is a short film about when knitting goes too far!

There are definitely appropriate times and places to knit. I'm not sure that the edge of a cliff is such a good idea. When I knit my balls of wool tend to go everywhere. No matter how hard I try to keep them in a bag or on my lap they manage to run away. This means I am careful about the choice of environment where I knit.  For example I wouldn't knit on an aeroplane (not that I would be allowed knitting needles on a plane nowadays anyway!) because the wool would easily run under seats and get tangled in other peoples things. Although interestingly enough others apparently do knit on planes click here to see proof (and it's a man too)!

References: Pearl-McPhee, S. (2005). At knit's end: Meditations for women who knit too much. North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing.

Another day another dollar (and another knitting story)

The last time I picked up my knitting needles (I really like starting stories this way) was on Saturday at work. At first it was raining outside so I sat on a chair with my knitting things on another chair beside me. Then the rain stopped and the sun came out. I noticed that the sun was shining directly onto the bed so I moved to sit on the bed with the sun on my back. It was warm and lovely! I was all by myself for most of the time, the person I support was asleep. I knitted and thought and my imagination went wild. Another staff member came in and I was so engrossed in my knitting and thinking that he had to let himself in as I didn't hear him knock. He was there to pick up a car and left soon so I picked up my knitting again. Since I have a lot of free time at work and am required to be there and available for the person, knitting is a good pastime. I can knit and chat to the person or knit by myself when they are doing other things. Knitting can be put down anytime so I can just leave it where I'm up to and go assist with something. As I get used to the pattern it becomes easier and easier to knit and do something else, like chatting or watching TV. I no longer need to have the pattern in front of me as I can tell by the stitches what I am up to. I don't need to count anymore either. Even a complicated pattern has a definite shape and repeats the same series of stitches over a few rows. You can tell quite easily when you have made a mistake and the sooner you can tell the easier it is to fix!    

A Knitting Story

This story was mostly written in class on Friday but I've edited it a bit since then. Enjoy!

The last time I picked up my knitting needles was Wednesday. I was sitting in the Dunedin Public Library. My friend was there and we were filling in time before picking up the boys from piping. Knitting is very useful for filling in time. One or two rows can be done in a short space of time and it saves sitting around waiting and wasting time. I find that I get less impatient when I'm knitting as I am still achieving something while waiting.   We sat in a corner of the children's section at the library. It was quiet and warm. We discussed whether the pattern I was doing would work since I'd left the cable needle at home. It didn't matter cause I wasn't up to that part yet. I was still doing the hat band which was in ribbing. Ribbing is knit one, purl one, knit one etc.... It has a rhythm and is quite relaxing. Because I was in a warm quiet place and the rhythm of the needles made me feel relaxed and peaceful. We were there for about 15 minutes and then picked the boys up. Back at home we picked up our knitting needles again. I sat at the dining room table and finished the ribbing section. We were all chatting and when it came to doing the next piece of the pattern I accidentally skipped a row. The result of this was I had to unknit that row and go back to the one I had missed. It was late (10.30pm) and I found it hard to concentrate on figuring out the new piece of pattern while engaging in a conversation with the others. The new pattern was more complex and knitting complex things takes more concentration. Since the boys were there as well the conversation was more general not so much discussing what we were working on. This meant switching from a social conversation to trying to count stitches. Since I was having trouble doing this late at night both activities, my knitting and my conversation suffered. I got completely lost in my knitting so in the end had to give up halfway through a row (That meant more unknitting on Saturday). My conversation was affected like this "Oh really why was that? knit one, purl one. No I'm listening" or "Hang on a minute just checking my stitches, one two three.....122, what were you saying?". None of us minds this sort of conversation interruption as it is a common occurrence, however with other people I would have given up sooner. The boys were also doing other things at the same time so they were equally distracted.  Having my knitting needles around was useful when the boys got irritating! A little amateur acupuncture was in order.... I enjoyed knitting while chatting because I felt like I was using my time well. I am knitting another hat for mum since the first one came out too small. I'm using the same red wool that I bought at the Elna shop when I went shopping with another friend. It was on special then so I bought two 100g balls. Good thing since now I have enough to make a second hat that will actually fit my mother. The new pattern i'm doing is one that my friend has tried several times before. I really like the way that it turns out. It has cable in it which I haven't done before so I will be gaining a new skill as well. It will be helpful since my friend has done it before she can show me what to do if I get stuck.

Aesthetics, Spirituality, Health

The other day I made my brother a hat, that in my opinion was really, really ugly.  The colours didn't go together well, and the textures of the different yarns didn't mix well, but he liked it.  My preference is to just have one colour when making a hat, but if you must have two, they should match well.  The pattern was plain and simple, and I find a more complex pattern to be more desirable and aesthetically pleasing.

When it comes to knitting, a general rule is that the finished item must fit to the pattern to be aesthetically pleasing.  I know that my brother didn't care what type of hat I made him, it was the fact that I had made him a hat that was important.  For some people, it is important to make a gift that will fit the aesthetic preferences of the person they are giving it to.  When I make a hat for my mum, I'll make a fancier pattern in a colour she likes.

Knitting seems more appropriate from an aesthetic viewpoint in a cooler climate.  There is something really strange about someone wearing a warm jumper on a hot day.  It just looks wrong.

Knitting has a link to my relationship with my family and ancestors. I connect with my past and my sense of being a woman when I knit. Since I perceive knitting as a very womanly task, something that I could do for my family in the present and in the future. I think of all those woman who have knitted for various reasons in the past. I feel connected to my culture and ancestors. Knitting is a part of the history and culture of New Zealand and celebrates our Anglo-celtic heritage (Nicholson, 1998). Since I have a large helping of Anglo-Celtic heritage I like to think of all of those women up my family tree who have knitted and wonder what it meant to them. I am carrying on a tradition of our family and I hope to be able to pass it on down the family tree.

Knitted clothes are normally made of natural wool, which keeps you very warm. This is good for your health! 

Nicholson, H. (1998). The loving stitch: A history of knitting and spinning in New Zealand. Auckland, NZ: Auckland University Press. 

Affordances

Every activity that we do has the potential to lead on to other activities. For example if I am knitting a hat and run out of wool I may then go shopping. Or if I was knitting a hat and someone came past and asked me what I was knitting the activity of knitting and I chatted to them. In both these examples the knitting has preceded and allowed for the following activity, shopping and chatting respectively. This is my understanding of the term affordance

There are three parts to affordance; communication properties, action properties and moral properties.

Communication properties: This refers to the ability of the activity to lend itself to communication. Communication is an important part of being human. It allows us to connect with others and express ourselves. I'll tell you about the communication to do with knitting:

In order to center myself I'll start with a particular instance. Last Friday I brought my knitting into polytech to do while listening to lectures. The obvious way that my knitting aided communication in this setting was through people asking me what I was knitting. It also helped me to concentrate on what I was hearing. Other times when I knit I knit with friends and we discuss our knitting. Or we might have conversations about anything else, just knitting helps to facilitate the conversation. I sometimes ask other people for patterns and that is a good way of beginning a communication. When I make something for someone else I am communication my love and affection for that person. Such as making a hat for Mum or booties for my niece. Sometimes when I knit, I can afterward look at something I've knitted and remember what I was thinking about and what was happening around me at the time of knitting. This communicates my memories to myself.

 Carmen Sylvia, the queen of Romania (as cited in Nicholson, 1998)  said
 "We get into a kind of fever with doing nothing. A very wise country clergyman allowed the women to knit during his sermons; never had a preacher more attentive listeners: not one of them dropped of to sleep as overworked  women are apt to do when they for once sit down. They grow drowsy and can't keep their eyes open. Allow them to knit and they will be able to tell you almost every word they have heard."

This is exactly what I mean. Knitting assists in the retention of information and helps the listener focus their mind. It certainly helps me not to get distracted. 

Action properties: This refers to other activities or actions that the task enables or encourages.
This is also the story of the activity, so beginning (what happened before), middle (the activity) and end (what  happens afterward). 

Here is one story: I planned to knit with my friend on Sunday so I made sure that when I left home I had everything that I needed. I had already bought the wool and arranged with my friend to provide the pattern and the needles. Before we could start knitting my friend had to wind up her wool. this got knotted so we did a bit of knot untying. Then we selected the needles and pattern and got underway. The family was watching a movie so once I got the hang of my knitting I was able to watch that too.

Moral properties: This is the right or wrong way of doing something as the person doing it sees it.

Following the pattern is one thing that is important to me. If I drop a stitch or miss something out then either un-knit back till I can redo it or un-pull the entire thing and start again. I don't think knitting is of as good a quality when you use acrylic yarn instead of wool.people use different techniques to knit. I was taught to cast on in a completely different way than my friend and each of us does it our own way and would find it strange to do it any other way. I also used to know a lady who held her needles in a weird way. Even watching her my Mum and I couldn't figure out how she was actually knitting with her needles going in those directions.   


Reference:
Nicholson, H. (1998). The loving stitch: A history of knitting and spinning in New Zealand. Auckland, NZ: Auckland University Press.

Yay! Getting started!

So I have finally bought some wool and found a pattern online. I'm knitting a hat for my mother. This will be the second hat I have knitted for her. Here is the story behind mummy's hats:

My mother rang me one day and we were discussing the hat that I was knitting for myself. She told me that the hat she had been wearing for the last 22 years was finally giving up the ghost, and could I knit her a new one. So I duly knitted her a dark blue mohair hat and sent it off to her. Meanwhile she had managed to use elastic and fix her old one satisfactorily so now she had two hats. My mother has a small cleaning job once a week for an elderly gentleman. One day she was cleaning and the weather was warming up so she removed her hat (the 22yr old one) and put it with her things. She left in quite a hurry that day as she needed to get to university for a class. When she got there she searched for her hat but it was nowhere to be found. Realising that she must have left it at work she thought "I'll get it next week" (conveniently she had another hat that someone had kindly knitted for her :) ). The following week on arriving at work she asked "Did I leave my hat here last week?" This was at first met by a blank stare then a sheepish look "I'm sorry. But I may be guilty of a grave indiscretion. Was that your hat? I saw an old raggy hat on my driveway and got annoyed that someone had thrown their rubbish into my yard so picked it up and I threw it in the rubbish!". Needless to say this was followed by a very amusing telephone call and a request for a second hat.

So the hat I'm knitting now is that hat. It will be red and here is the pattern I'm using.

Ergonomics

Ergonomics is important to ensure that the task and environment fit the person. Throughusing ergonomics the activity can be altered as necessary to suit the client and be appropriate for the environment. Therapists need to  "constantly make slight invisible adjustments to an activity to adapt to the needs of those taking part and ensure that it continues to work for it's intended purpose" (Caulton & Dickson, 2007).

So in class we looked at the three parts of ergonomics; person, activity and environment. Here is a summary of my knitting under the three headings.

Person

• I am a young knitter.
• Knitting is a preferred activity for me.
• I have a certain level of competence but am still learning new skills.
• I am able to knit while doing other things, eg. chatting or watching TV.
• I need enough personal space to spread out wool and move knitting needles.
• I have not got a large budget for knitting.
• I find knitting relaxing.               

Activity

• Knitting has an internal rhythm caused by counting eg. knit one...purl one......
• Knitting has an external rhythm eg. clicking needles and repetitive movements. 
• Patterns guide the process.
• Different levels of engagement are required for different difficulties of pattern.
• Wool, yarn needles and patterns all cost money which is a restriction.

Environment

• To knit the social environment needs to be appropriate and supportive.
• Knitting is culturally appropriate for me as my mother, sisters, grandmothers and some friends knit.  
• The environment must be free from too much distraction eg. deep conversations or really engaging TV.
• The environment can encourage knitting eg. knitting with friends, knitting in winter.

Those are a basic outline of my ergonomics, if I think of anything else I'll add it in.


        

Reference:

Caulton, R & Dickson, R. (2007). What's going on? Finding an explanation for what we do. In J. Creek & A. Lawson-Porter (Eds.) Contemporary issues in occupational therapy. Chichester: John-Wiley & Sons Ltd

All About Knitting!

What is knitting like?

This is a hard question. At the most basic and practical level knitting is a process of using two sticks to twist yarn into a predetermined design. Sounds straightforward. But, when you get into it, knitting is not that simple. First there are many different ways to hold the needles. Then different ways to cast on. There are two main stitch types purl and knit and these are put together to create different patterns. Sometimes you knit into the front of the stitch and sometimes into the back. putting the wool around the needle, slipping a stitch across, knitting two or more stitches together or making new stitches all contribute to making interesting and novel patterns. Knitting can be for practical purposes, like knitting a jersey for warmth or for purely artistic reasons like knitting a pretty jersey for a show or competition.  

What does it mean to me?

Well..........I love knitting mainly because it keeps my hands busy while I'm doing other things like watching TV or talking to my friends. It is relaxing for me.  I also like the challenge of trying a new pattern and the sense of achievement that comes from the finished product. I enjoy being creative with colours and textures. Making things for other people is fun and I frequently give things that I've made away.

How can knitting be used in OT practice?

Knitting can be used as a therapeutic tool. People can have a chat while knitting and it gives them something to discuss. Having made something can give clients a sense of achievement. If clients find knitting meaningful to them it can be very useful to encourage increased engagement in meaningful occupation.

Practical Considerations

I have definitely got enough time to knit for two hours a week. I am going to start with a hat for my mother. i'm really looking forward to starting it too!