My knitting story OR Thank you, my friend.

I came to knitting when my life was in a pretty bad spot. (I'm ok, mom. Really. It's cool.) I disliked my job, I disliked where I lived... oh yeah.. cuz it was AT my job, I was unhealthy (physically and emotionally) and spent the bulk of my time at home/work, alone.

My start at knitting was pretty lame. At first I watched students knitting at meetings and I probably made fun of a few at first. Then one of my friends knit a hat. She talked about her bamboo needles. She talked about REAL YARN like WOOL. I remember going to the craft store and buying some cheapo needles, cheapo yarn and a cheapo book that was titled something like, "1-2-3 Learn to Knit" or something. I remember my friend politely cringing at my supplies and my attempt at teaching myself. She was polite though. She watched me, gave advice (...which I should have heeded. I was knitting so tight I'm not sure it was really knitting.) and she suggested we go to a yarn shop. She needed to go anyway and I had a car. We researched "real yarn shops" and found one nearby. She took me and I purchase the ugliest ball of yarn and a pair of bamboo needles.

The funny thing is that this is where it gets fuzzy. I didn't knit again for like 6 months, a year? I moved, she moved. I started a new job where I certainly would never find a knitter, let alone anyone with an IQ over 80. I knit one scarf that was an experiment with seed stitch and dropped stitches - my own pattern because I couldn't read patterns yet.

Then I voluntarily left that job. I spent sometime in between jobs where my sole occupation was entertaining myself while not spending money. Ever tried this? It's really not fun. Fortunately we had money enough to pay the cable bill and on the advice of my wickedly smart SIL, I watched Knitty Gritty religiously. I picked up so much from that show. Little things. How to increase, decrease, seam, knit diagonally, etc. Over the years, I've watched every episode.

About a year ago after the millionth person remarked on my continental style knitting, I wondered, "How the heck did I turn out a continental knitter when my entire known universe knits English?" I really had no idea because I don't really have a recollection of my first stitches and that 1-2-3 book shows both styles. I emailed my friend a few months ago and got a confirmation. Continental.

So, I owe a lot to this friend. She gave me my style, a love for wool and proper equipment and she gave me something to do that slows the voice in my head when I need it to SLOW. That voice was on overdrive those few months that I spent at home not working. Hubby worked extra hard to pay bills and tried to at least keep the house going and prepare meals - although that was really, really hard. Self-pity is a beast and time suck. Knitting has served as a more productive way for me to use my brain than obsessing about things I can't change and overly-critiquing myself.

I've been trying to think of a way to say thank you to this friend and last week I was finally able to do so in a way that I hope shows how much her gift has meant to me. Last week my friend received this:




She's now in law school and her current budget doesn't allow for extras like yarn. I was doing a routine stash bust/inventory and I gotta say, once the idea was in my head this was the most fun ever. I got excited thinking about all the things she'd make and all the great ideas she'd have. The pile got bigger and bigger. Not much was spared. Sometimes you gotta go big.

So there it is. How I started knitting and a big overdue THANKS.