KCBW Day 1: Manatees in the House!

Our first assignment for Knit and Crochet Blog Week 4 is to assign ourselves into houses ala entering classes of students at Hogwarts. Our choices are the Houses of Bee, Manatee, Monkey, or Peacock. Each house embodies different aspects of these animals' traits and personalities. Right away, I chose Manatee -- or, I suppose I should say, the Manatee chose me.

Since I was a kid, when asked what animal I'd like to be, I would always come up with some aquatic sea mammal -- otters, sea lions, seals, whales. I'm not sure why -- maybe it's the way they seem to fit so comfortably into the worlds they inhabit, yet not quite -- living their lives in water, but still needing that connection to the atmosphere. Manatees weren't really on the mind of this northwest coast boy then, but they do seem like a good fit. Then there's the gray. I love gray. The socks I'm working on now? Gray. The last pair of socks I made? Gray. The office cardigan I made last year? Gray.

How do I "knit like a manatee"? Even though I can knit rapidly, I'm fairly slow in my choosing of patterns and yarn. I've had things in my Ravelry queue for years that I still need to think about some more. I've spent years with some projects on hold, but I always get to them in time. Slow, steady persistence. I also think of manatees as being introverted. I like the calmness and steadiness that manatees portray. For proof, just check out the name of this blog.

And finally, when I think of manatees, I think about this bit that Jim Gaffigan did on Dr. Katz years ago. It always makes me laugh.

See you tomorrow.