Since I was a young child, I have never been able to sit still, and now that I am a mother, I am constantly reminded that M is just like I was, running EVERYWHERE. So when I entered high school, my mother decided to teach me how to crochet, potentially to give me something productive to do to relax while not worrying about sitting still for any length of time. Unfortunately, I made the most hideous scarf ever known to man and my mother only knew the very basics and couldn’t help me improve. I was quickly over it…. but something connected.
My sophomore year of high school I decided that a hook might not be my style and opted to pick up my great-grandmother’s beautiful wooden knitting needles instead. I had no family members to help, so I quickly turned to the internet as my guide. I sat at the computer for hours, many in pure frustration, trying to follow pictures and diagrams of how to make a slip knot, cast on, hold the needles and finally make a knit stitch. But when I got it, it stuck. I knit many a garter stitch scarf for months. Until I came across something that awed and baffled me, the purl stitch. An important side note : I’m a thrower, but to this day, I cannot throw a purl stitch.
I struggled to maneuver the yarn to the front of the work and to my other hand. I do not hold my yarn with tension, so I drop the yarn between each stitch using my left hand. But, let me tell you, my stockinette scarves were out of this world! I was completely set for life. I would just make scarf after scarf, AND GIFT THEM TO EVERYONE. In college, I threw in a rib here or there, some seed stitch and other fun stitch patterns I found in an needlework book. I treasured every scarf I made and gifted them with such enthusiasm, thinking all the while, “Wow, my friends must LOVE these. They are complete works of art made with care!”
After everyone I knew had at least one, or two… or really three of these magnificent works of art, I grew tired and stopped. I was a full time student working almost a full time job. That is, until my last semester when I took on a second job, training with the company that was hiring me full-time after graduation. I was over-worked and had no time to enjoy my craft… and started to look back 0n how few of my scarves I ever saw again.
Luckily, the joys of pregnancy hit me hard. As soon as I found out, and my stomach settled, I dug out my needles and started knitting M a sweater… sized for a three year old, just in case. Though I finished knitting it in about a month, I was far too excited about learning new techniques and left the piecing of the sweater for her second birthday…
I have now been knitting for almost ten years and have resolved to learn at least one new, major, technique a year to make up for the years of boring scarves. Last year was lace, which I adore. This year – colorwork. Now, if only I knew how to hold back and find a simple pattern to learn on, instead of a complicated Fair Isle JACKET for M.
Wish me luck!
a singular knitter 