If I knit fast enough,

does it count as aerobic exercise?

I saw a variation of this as a bumper sticker and it started me thinking. I enjoy racing at certain things. Typing for instance. I've loved to type ever since Mrs. S taught the required semester to me and 25 other squirrelly sophomores. And no, it was not called Keyboarding then. It was plain old typing. On manuals. {Those require no electricity, for you technology unimpaired out there. We could type in the middle of a hurricane if we wanted to.} Everytime I sit down at a these abecedarian buttons, I feel compelled to go as fast as I can. This same feeling doesn't overcome me when I'm using the machine we learned about second semester that year in driver's ed.
I don't drive fast.
I don't swim fast.
I don't hike, sew or spin fast. (That sounds a little Seuss-like.)
I don't even try. But knitting? With every stitch I'm thinking about how I could save a motion, speed it up, really FLY! Maybe I read Cheaper by the Dozen once too often? I'm curious about holding the yarn differently, knitting backwards (I can't yet), nickel plating and the search for the perfect join on a circular needle.

I think speed occupies my mind right now because I'm working on a project on which each row is longer than its predecessor. Every single row. 6 stitches longer every 2 rows. It explodes like the rabbit population in Wallace & Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I started out with only 5 stitches and already I've got over 150.


But I still love this yarn. This pitiful picture does no justice to the colors -- purples, greens, navy, burgundy & browns. The photo is just to prove I've made progress since my post a few days ago.

Yesterday I trooped out to "My Favorite Yarn Shop" in Warrenton to help them celebrate their anniversary. They were teaching felted treasure bags to kids and when Dina invited me to do one, I jumped at the chance. Well, not so much jumped, but thought, "Why not?" I've felted wool before so I thought it would be no big thrill. Boy was I surprised! I don't know if it was the whole 'treasure' idea or that I was working alongside a girl of 8 or 10 or that we were using a rock for our mold (I do love rocks), but it was loads of fun. We took a smooth rock, wrapped it in layers of wool batt we'd teased loose, wrapped that with a cloth, secured it with rubber bands & gave the whole thing a massage in hot soapy water. After we got sick of that, we rinsed it, cut one end off and threaded a cord through for a drawstring. Very stylish, what every crafter girl is dangling from her neck this year, but I plan to hang mine on a Christmas tree.