My Knitting Intro

So…I knit. Now, when I say knit…don’t get excited. I can knit, purl, and decrease. That’s about it. Now, don’t get me wrong there is a lot you can do with only those stitches. However, I must admit a slight feeling of inadequacy when I see and hear about the other things that people can knit. Honestly, it makes me want to curl up in the corner and eat my hair. In all fairness though, my knitting journey has been a bumpy one.
When I was about 10 years old, my step-great-grandmother taught me how to crochet. I think I remember liking it. Doesn’t matter, I decided about a year and a half ago that I could not possible live another day without knowing how to knit. So…I took my happy little self to, of all places….Wal-Mart, and bought one of those teach-yourself-to knit kits and went home to get this party started. Being left-handed I naturally went to the section for left-handers. Seems logical, right? Um…yeah. So I taught myself how to cast-on and the knit stitch. I knitted an entire scarf. WooHoo!!
Then one day…in a fit of knitting loneliness, I dragged my mom to the new knitting store in town (by the way, my mom bought the same knit kit), to talk to other knitters. I started up a conversation with the store owner and explained to her that what I was doing seemed wrong. She didn’t understand what I was talking about when I tried to explain to her how I knit. Fortunately, I had my most recent scarf with me. I brought it in and demonstrated. “You’re knitting backwards”, she said. She explained that it wasn’t that I was doing it wrong; I was doing everything in a mirror image. She went on to explain that the only way it might be a problem is if I try to knit from a pattern, as everything would be backwards and reverse. Oh, well, what a relief, because I had fully planned to knit nothing but scarves in a mirror garter stitch for the REST OF MY LIFE. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!! I like a challenge just as much as anyone else, but really now.
So, after I stepped off the ledge from the shock of wasting months trying to figure this stuff out, I asked if she could show me the correct way to knit. I didn’t even care if she taught me how to knit right-handed…and she did. Thankfully, I have been knitting correctly for about a year. All of that being said…I get so discouraged when I see some of the wonderful things other knitters create. The most I have ever done are several scarves, a few bracelet purses, started a baby blanket, and I have taught myself to crochet as well (I rock the ten minute coaster – even though it still takes me an hour). Perhaps I don’t knit as often as I should/could. But really, I have quit smoking and still don’t have enough time to knit 20 pairs of socks, 5 hats, 12 scarves and still have dinner on the table by 6pm like some knitters. Guess I’ll have to work on that.