The Beginning

Back in 2005, I complimented a woman on her knitting and expressed envy of her talent. She suggested that it was not too late to learn, but I explained that I could not afford to take classes and wasn’t the type to easily pick up such a skill on my own. She insisted that it was possible for me to teach myself, as she had taught herself from a book. By the end of the conversation, she had me convinced that I could learn from a book.

So the next time I updated my Amazon wish list, I added one knitting book to my rather long wish list – Debbie Stoller’s “Stitch ‘N Bitch.” Then I promptly forgot about it.

Included in my Solstice gifts from my partner Michael were “Stitch ‘N Bitch” and “Stitch ‘N Bitch Nation.” Upon revealing the gift, someone commented, “Oh, I didn’t know you knitted.” I explained that I didn’t, but was planning on learning. This was a comment I then had to make many times over the next few weeks as all my friends and family asked about my holiday gifts.

So about mid-January 2006, I figured I better read the books and actually try to knit something. By this time, I’d had to endure a lot of questions about my non-existent knitting skills, not to mention sarcastic comments about my past creative endeavors. I have over the years tried my hand at crochet, embroidery, latch hook rugs, cross-stitch, sewing, acoustic guitar, macramé, drawing, etc. While I had fun and even have some finished projects I can show off, nothing every held my attention long enough for me to attain any real skill. I apparently have artistic ADD.

So I read a little, went out and bought some basic supplies including really cheap Red Heart Super Saver yarn in two colors for practice, and then cast on. I didn’t know how to fix mistakes yet and I wasn’t willing to leave the mistakes alone, so I frogged whenever I made a mistake and started over. I spent weeks on just making a small handful of knitting swatches. I may – just possibly – have a slight issue with making mistakes. Well, my first swatch looks fabulous…it should, I probably frogged and re-knit it about 20 times.

And that’s how it all started for me. Once I finished my first scarf on February 14, 2006 (simple garter stitch with stripes – and yes, I did have to start over a thousand times, but my stitches are even and there aren’t any holes) I was hooked.

And here’s the first scarf:

I still wear it today. I even made a matching hat this year from the leftover yarn.