Learning to Knit

I was about 10 or 11 when I learned to crochet. At some craft event at school when I was about 9 we learned to make a crocheted chain with a finger and yarn. I can still remember that thrill of having made “something” out of almost nothing. It took a year or two before I picked up a crochet hook and took the next step from making chains to that first row into the foundation chain. I’ve crocheted a lot of things over the years; afghans, toys, candy dispensers, and even clothes.

I always wanted to learn how to knit because to me crocheted clothes just didn’t cut it (crocheted clothes designs have come a long way since then) but I couldn’t find anyone who knew how to knit. So when I was sixteen years old I went to the library and checked out a knitting dictionary and taught myself how to knit.

I had a rudimentary understanding of knitting and the only method shown in that library book was American (English) style. It took forever to knit something. I always joked that I could crochet a house in an hour but it took six months to make a knit scarf. If I was in the middle of a row of knitting I could not stop until I got to the end. Nothing could interrupt my finishing that row or I was lost. Worse, those knit scarves curled all up. Drove me nuts. My second knit project was a T-style sweater. Yeah, I tend to jump in with both feet. I’d made a scarf, a sweater was a logical next project. It turned out all right. Except it was a size 3X and I was a size small at the time.

I never enjoyed knitting. I was only doing it because I liked how it looked better than crocheted for some things. Well, many things. I love my crocheting but it just doesn’t work as well for clothing, including accessories. I remember when my mom made us crocheted mittens when we were young. The crocheted mittens were forced upon us. She didn’t care that we couldn’t move our thumbs or that there were holes letting cold air in, never mind the fact that they were plain ugly. The crocheted mittens got lost very quickly.

My knitting needles grew dusty. Somehow over the years a few lost their mates also. Not sure how that happened but I have many knitting needles that are all alone. I think I used them to push stuffing into sewn dolls or toys and they never saw their other half again.

Then about six years ago I saw a show on PBS called Knitting Daily. That show inspired me. Truly inspired me. The first time I saw continental style knitting I had to learn it. Oh, what a difference it made! It took some practice but it didn’t take that long to get the feel of it. I no longer had to let go of the right knitting needle, take the yarn, put it over the needle tip, pick up the needle again, knit the stitch, and start over again. All I had to do was hold the yarn in my left hand and knit away. Ribbing was no longer a nightmare that took me a month for 2” around a 7-8” circumference. To work ribbing I just moved my first finger back and forth about an 1”.

That was the smiling woman at the open door, waving me to come on in to the world of knitting. Continental knitting for me was the magic turning point. Suddenly I could knit a scarf in time increments of hours or days instead of months or years. That was just the first step though. Gaining a better understanding of knitting really made a difference. Understanding things cuts back on the fear. Let’s face it, it’s fear making us drag our feet in so many things.