I learned to knit when I was six. My mother was a master knitter and sewer. I wanted to learn to knit because she was always tinkering with something. She was left-handed and I sat and watched her. I knitted backwards for years. I still purl backwards.
The first thing I knitted was a scarf for my dad. My dad was 6’8″ (my mom was 5’3″). I loved a very pale yellow yarn and decided that would be perfect. I started knitting in June and finished the scarf in time for Christmas. It was twenty stitches wide, stockinette (yes, it curled wickedly) and went from my dad’s knee, wrapped once completely around his neck, and went to his other knee. It wobbled in and out. At times my stitches were so tight I had to pry them off the needles, and at other places they had fallen off them. AND, he wore it for years, tucked under his overcoat, but he wore it, until his second wife threw it away when I was 12.
My mother continued to knit for all of us. I remember in high school two sweater coats she made for me. One was a garter stitch bright pink, white and magenta thing that just did not suit a red-head, but the other was a knobbly blue with lines of white and cranberry. It was like a safety net, a comfort blanket. When I wore it I felt her love and warmth all around me. I wish I had it still. She died when I was thirty. She would love the designers and indie dyers of today.
I watched all the latest Grocery Girls Knits podcasts and went back to the very first one and binged on them. Then I decided to do this blog and start doing the patterns and projects they were doing for a year, at least. They are so talented. Of course, they are two prolific knitters, and I am only one lonely newbie. They are very supportive of the knitting/yarning community. They encouraged me to move out of my comfort zone. I learned to knit shawls and socks…..SOCKS…..I am T-totally in love with sock knitting. It is a passion once infected with, you cannot shake cold turkey.
Today is a good day. Oh, look…..shiny………..