For the past year, I have 0o0o’d and ahhh’d at all the bloggers who have developed the art of knitting. Some were just beginning. Others were a year in. Some had years upon years of experience. While some were knitting washclothes, other’s were knitting apparel for their young. Oh how I relished in every post I read about their knitting projects, experiences, mistakes. I wanted to learn to knit, goshdarnnit. By golly, I was going to learn!
While on the unemployment line, one would think I had an abundance of time to learn such skill. Boy, were they sadly mistaken. Yet each and every day I yearned and ached and thought about wanting to learn to knit. The days came and went right before my eyes. Every night would end with the same thought “guess I will learn to knit tomorrow.” Sad, right?
One day, back in June, Little Bear and I made a trip to our local A.C. Moore’s store. During this visit, she helped me pick out the yarn which would be used to make my very first project – a gift for her – a scarf. She had picked out a beautiful yarn and I was so very excited to use it. After, we went to pick out a set of needles. Having no experience or knowledge, we ventured up and down the knitting needles row trying to distinguish what size we wanted to go with. We already knew that most preferred the Bamboo over the Metal so we knew we wanted Bamboo. But what about the size? We ended up chosing a 10 – little did I later realize I should have went with the eight.
Did I learn to knit in June? Sadly, I did not. It was not until the second weekend of October – four months later that I learned the beautiful art of knitting. A neighbor just three houses down from us – also an AVON customer of mine was gracious enough to extend the offer several months prior to June to teach me. One Saturday, while taking her AVON order, I heard this little question in my head “Little Bear is down. It’s the perfect opportunity to learn to knit. Ask her what she’s doing?” So, after taking her order, I asked her if it would be a good time to come on over and have her teach me to knit. Score! She was not only available but eager and excited! I grabbed my supplies (Ball of Yarn, Set of 10 needles and two beginner books) and off I went.
The next two hours were the most enjoyable two hours of my life. Oh how we first talked about all her past projects. O0o0o’ing and ahhhhh’g at all her projects. We talked about all sorts of projects I could start on and even do later on. In the end, we chose to stick to the scarf for Little Bear. We realized the one yarn I had purchase would not be enough for any other project. It also would be good practice to get me started on knitting. Susan casted-on for me and then taught me the “knit” stitch. It wasn’t long before I was on my way. Sure, for the first four days, I would make a mistake here and there and be right over there for her to fix it but after that, well, I was on my way.
I am almost done the scarf now. Have about eight more inches left. Susan will bind it off for me and then she’ll teach me the “purl” stitch and I can work on Project #2, a hat to match the scarf I made for Little Bear. Ohhhhhhhhhh, how very excited I am.
I am truly enjoying every minute I have of knitting thus far. It soothes my soul. It is relaxing and gives me such a sense of accomplishment and pride. Knitting this scarf brought back so many memories of past projects I used to make. It reminded me why I loved crafting and what it did for my soul. Oh yes, I have finally relit that spark that has been in hibernation so long and I owe it all to the bloggers who wrote about it and for Susan for teaching me.
Happy Knitting!!!!
Frugal, Fit and Fabulous 
