My New Obsession

Well my new obsession is knitting. And I love it. Over Thanksgiving at the Hartrick Family Reunion in Fayetteville, I was inspired to learn to knit while watching all of the others knitting and crocheting.

My sister-in-law Jennifer Childs offered to teach me to knit. I was so excited. I had tried to learn many years ago when I was a kid, but could never figure it out. But it was always in the back of my mind that I’m a smart person and this is something I should be able to do, eventually.

To start, I went to Hand Held, a yarn store in Fayetteville that is owned by a mother of a D.C. friend. I assumed I would make a scarf with really chunky yarn. I wasn’t sure if I would actually like knitting, so I wanted to make something I could finish. I tried to find yarn that was really soft and ended up with two skeins of Rowan Big Wool in Pistachio and size 12 mm needles. I asked the store for recommendations for a knitting book. They quickly said Stitch ‘N Bitch. They did not have it in stock though. They were so sure that this was THE book I should get that they told me to go down the street to the Barnes and Noble and buy it there.

Jenn was very patient with me. She taught me to cast on, knit, and purl. She also suggested that I try Continental knitting (left-hand method) since this was a faster way to knit. I started the scarf with a stockinette stitch, but quickly learned that it curled too much on the sides. I frogged it and started over. Then I went with a 2×2 rib stitch and this worked out well. By the end of the Reunion, I had gotten to the point where I could finish the scarf on my own. Though I did have to teach myself how to bind off. This was a little scary, but the Stitch ‘N Bitch book has really clear diagrams and instructions. I was able to figure it out.

Here’s the finished product on Ella. I’ve been wearing the scarf for the past two months. It’s warm and soft and matches my winter coat too. What more could you ask for?

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