The Discovery

Hello again! I want to share my knitting history and the love of my life right now.

When I was 16, my grandmother taught me and several of my cousins to knit one weekend. I wish it was more of a romantic memory, but truth be told, it only gets romantic as I get older. As it is in my mind, I remember holding 14" straight size 8 needles (still in my possession) and making row after row of knit stitches and it just clicked, I was a natural. But it was sort of boring. What kept me going was one of my cousins' proposal that we have a knitting contest along with my healthy dose of competitiveness. Brilliantly, I bought some beautiful yellow yarn (later known to be fingering weight, ahh knitting naivete how I don't miss you) and made a 16" garter stitch... thing. My cousin won the knitting battle and I lost interest. My one set of knitting needles were kept safe in a tupperware drawer set along with fabric scraps and a potholder-loop loom with hundreds of fabric loops.

Jump forward to age 21. I am in collage and living with friends and we are enjoying this rise in popularity of the knit stocking hat. I am rocking one of my mom's old hats (who was quite a fashionista in her day!) and the hat is cool enough that my boyfriend at the time donned it from time to time as well and it is not holding up too well with the constant use. DING! I remember that I have this skill to make more of these!

I pay Mom a visit, brushed the loops away from my knitting needles, bought up some worsted weight, light blue yarn and found a free knitting pattern on the internet. This was in the days pre-Ravelry and try as I might, I can not find that website to this day. The hat was knit flat and then seamed, and the website was pro, but my comprehending of its advice was poor. Buying the right gauge yarn for size 8 US needles was really luck, because I still had no clue about gauge. So probably needless to say, I did not knit a gauge swatch.

My simple stockinette hat came out two sizes too big and since it was a gift for the beau, I was nervous about handing it over. Thankfully, he was a stand-up guy and accepted this monstrosity lovingly, never showing signs of disdain. The XL Blue Hat made debuts at themed costumed parties where good vibes and good drinks made it seem like a good idea and the experience of my first actual knitted object was a good one. I did not think to take a picture of it and am unaware of its fate, but it certainly served its purpose in life.

Next came ugly scarves and more ugly hats until an alpaca farmer selling skeins at a farmers' market in Floyd, VA struck up a conversation when my knitting naivete gawked at her $15.00 skeins of alpaca (what a deal!). At one point she leaned in close and whispered, "Have you heard of Ravelry.com?" I leaned in as well and replied, "No. What's is all about?" She wrote it down on the back of a business card, nodded knowingly, and we parted ways.

Ravelry is brilliant!

I am 27 now and have been knitting incessantly for 6 years now. I have acquired much MUCH more yarn which I will post some photos of the stash soon. For now, here is one from a year ago after I couldn't resist buying a 16" x 42" tupperware container packed with yarn discovered at a Goodwill for $14.00. And when I say packed, I'm talking this thing was package taped shut to keep from bursting open.

Ball bands are missing, there's a significant amount of Red Heart, but the quality blends I got for a steal. There was a shawl's worth of baby alpaca (or small tank top's worth, I haven't decided which to do yet ^_^), a half used skein of alpaca lace weight yarn, 3 balls of lace weight linen yarn, and 4 super bulky wool blends which I've used to make a few hats from. The rest is mostly worsted and DK weight acrylics which I have made into Christmas ornaments and journal covers.


My knitting really took off after this purchase and the discovery of set of needles sizes 0-10 1/2 US in a Salvation Army near Knoxville, TN not long afterwards. The rest of my knitting history is forthcoming and I hope you enjoyed that little personal tale. :)

WIPs:

I am still working on the Treasured Heirloom Baby Blanket.

I am still enjoying it so much that I have managed to remain monogamous. It has also helped that I have been fulfilling errands related to setting up things at work such as insurance, health appointments, and bank accounts.

FOs:

Recent FOs include some hats I've crocheted for coworkers' children.

The Little Sister hat.

A Scallop Hat.

And I added a crocheted flower to this Simple Knit Hat from a while back. The flower is the chrysanthemum pattern with wide crocheted leaves.

I mentioned the love of my life, and while I love knitting and my partner L, a new love has entered in the form of a kitten which I found in our garden shortly after moving in to our new house.

Meet Mr. Pickens and his tale is forthcoming as well! For now I am going to watch an episode of Fibre Town and pick up the needles until time to head off to work! Ciao!!