handmade by jennifer

You've heard of the Seven Deadly Sins, right? (Or you've at least seen the movie Se7en, with Brad Pitt?) No? Well, the Seven Deadly Sins are Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Greed and Sloth.

According to the Seven Deadly Sins website, these are how the sins are defined:

Pride is excessive belief in one's own abilities, that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity.

Envy is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation.

Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.

Lust is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.

Anger is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. It is also known as Wrath.

Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness.

Sloth is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.

I started thinking about how these sins could relate to my knitting. I know that they don't fit exactly, especially with the definitions as stated above. But, I knew that my knitting hobby wasn't all love and roses either. So here's my list:

Pride- Knitting Bag with Perfect Pocket. Oh I was so proud of myself! I *knew* I'd designed the PERFECT knitting bag, with exactly the right pockets to hold exactly the right accessories. I'd even created the Perfect Pocket with its specific features and purposes. It was going to be huge! Um...yeah. It's been in storage so long that I have no clue where it is. It used to be Sam's favorite sleeping spot, so what was a black felted bag is now really white and hairy. It's huge- but in a "really big" sense, not a "everyone wants one" sense. And it's unfinished. I consider my pride a wee bit checked, thanks to this project.

Envy- A swift and a niddy noddy. I'm so jealous of all of you who have one. Do I need them? No. But oh do I want them!

Gluttony-Homespun jacket and hat. Oh the gluttony here! I was in Ottawa and given the opportunity for a rare trip to Michael's, the craft store. Did I buy something special? No. I bought about 35(!!!) skeins of LionBrand Homespun. I bought enough to make the jacket and hat for myself, plus enough red and black to make Yannick and I each oversized hooded sweatshirts. Well, after knitting with the homespun long enough to make my jacket, I discovered how the yarn releases little tufts of fiber as you knit. I was fed up of knitting with it long before even finishing the jacket, not to mention the way the yarn bunches along itself and has to be eased back down. Oh- and did I mention that I NEVER wear the jacket? It has lived on my mannequin ever since the original photos were taken - in 2006!! This was definitely a case of "eyes bigger than stomach"...in knitting terms, that is.

Lust- The Noro Kureyon striped scarf, as seen at Brooklyn Tweed. Maaike had pointed me over there and when I took one look at the scarf, I was hooked. I had to have one. NOW. I think I ordered the yarn for it in under a week, and not long after that, as soon as we'd finished our "current" projects, we cast on for a knitalong. Ever lust for something and then when you get it, it's not as good as you thought? This was SO not like that. It was better than I'd thought. The knitting was mindless, the yarn was softer than I'd thought, and the color combination still thrills me. Score one for lust!

Anger- my dad's thrummed mittens (no completed photo, only some old wip shots there, sorry). I've made peace with the mittens, but I'm still a little bitter about them. Of course, I'm mostly angry at myself. I was so looking forwards to knitting with a new technique (the thrums) that I didn't stop to consider the recipient. Sure, my mom said my dad's hands were always cold. Sure, nothing would be warmer than thrummed mittens. Sure. Unfortunately I didn't think about who the gift was for- my dad, the smoker. Mittens have no fingers. You can't smoke with mittens on. The mittens don't get worn. Sigh. Moving on...

Greed- Patterns. Oh my- I can't have enough. And it's not just the free ones online or magazines, it's pay ones too! Rogue, the pocket pals books, the wonderful Wallaby...so many patterns have found their way into my grubby little hands. And am I knitting them? Of course not. They are being stored so they can be savored...while I sit here trying to design my own stuff. There's probably some irony here if I could be bothered to look.

Sloth- the Kosher Sweater. Come on- 3 years sitting in a bag with only 20 stitches waiting to be bound off?? That's just plain lazy, folks.

So there you have it- my Seven Deadly Knitting Sins. I want to know what yours are. You can send your list by email, you can post it in a comment to this post, or you can post it to your blog and leave me a comment here to go take a look. You can use all words or you can include photos. My only condition is that you list something for each of the seven sins.

The contests starts today, and will end at midnight Wednesday, April 2 2008. That gives you 7 days to play.

Wanna know what you're playing for?

The winner will get a $30 gift certificate to the online yarn store of their choice. Good luck!

Before I go, here are a few photos:

Mommy with Jakob at 45 weeks. He's getting so big! This photo isn't so great 'cus he looks much chubbier than he is, but you can always go back a few posts and see him in his pjs on the rocking chair to know that he doesn't have all that pudge. I'm not sure if you can click on the photo to see it bigger, but if you can- look at those teeth! You can also get a look at some family and wedding photos in the screen behind us. :)

I actually took this photo a few days ago but never got around to posting it. Since we had our time change so early in the year, there is so much light in the house when I get home from work! I took this photo at 6:30 at night, with no flash, in a room with one big window. I couldn't get enough of the natural light and so I took this wip photo. Finally I managed to get one photo that shows the colors accurately AND shows the cable. This is the same cardigan front I showed you a few weeks ago.

Tonight there was a West Island Knitters meetup at a local brasserie (tavern) and I finished the front piece. I also helped my cousin Amy finish her swatch bunny. This was her first time seaming, and came right on the heels of her first time purling and her first time following a "pattern".

It is so cute! Go over to her site to check it out, I'm sure she'll have FO photos to share. As if I didn't have enough on my plate- now I want one!