My Latest Endeavor

Lookee! I made something out of string!


I've been posting so infrequently in the last month that I have no idea if I've reported about my attempts to learn how to knit or not. Well, if I haven't, Gentle Reader, guess that cat's out of the 'ol yarn bag now.

Yes, in October I partially taught myself how to knit by watching videos online, trying to decipher some bad photos and illustrations on various Web sites and by picking up a fairly helpful book at HPB. But when I didn't seem to produce anything that looked anywhere close to functional, I got myself to a Knitting 101 session at the local Jo-Ann Fabrics and learned a fourth way to cast on and found out I was doing the knit stitch fairly correctly. (Pin a rose on my nose!) During class, I failed miserably at purling: My brain just couldn't manage to do the exactly opposite of the knit stitch in the same two-hour slot during which I'd somewhat mastered said knit stitch.

Feeling somewhat emboldened by the class, I set out to make a scarf for the boy. Not that he needs a scarf, mind you. He claimed from me this very soft knitted scarf and hat a few years back because they're in rainbow colors (he claimed them back when he was all about rainbows and "The Rainbow Connection" and The Muppet Movie), and he still likes them very much. But since he helped me pick out the clearance yarn, I thought I'd make my first project for him.

That project would probably take a competent knitter two, maybe three hours. It took me, a completely incompetent knitter, roughly three weeks. The fringe on the end? Now that took me about two hours.

My next project? Perhaps another scarf, but one that features purling, because after finishing up the boy's scarf, I took a few evenings to practice the purl stitch, and I think I've got it under control. My ultimate goal is to make this bitchin' R2-D2 hat for the boy, but I somehow doubt I'll ever be a competent-enough knitter to pull of that one.