Yarnification

When I first learned to crochet, I tried to learn to knit, too. It was pretty comical, really. My cast-on row looked like a chimp did it, or maybe a small child with poor manual dexterity. I kept at it over and over again until I had a halfway decent set of cast-on stitches, then I tried to knit into them.

It was a nightmare. I kept sticking the needle straight through the yarn somehow, and for every stitch that sort of came off okay three more would do some weird disappearing thing and unravel on me. I gave it up. Crochet was more straightforward and didn’t require me to coordinate both hands at the same time.

I’ve picked up the knitting needles to have another shot at it maybe once a year since then, always with similar results. I tried a half dozen sets of instructions. I became convinced that I was just incapable of knitting. A week or two ago at JoAnn’s, I picked up a free knitting basics flyer and had another shot at it. No go.

Then I got a copy of Stitch ‘n’ Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook out of the library, figuring I’d make one last-ditch effort. If this didn’t work, I was giving it up. At least for another year or two, since I’d probably decide again at some point that I _was_ going to learn to knit, dammit.

And it worked, kinda. I figured out how to cast on! I made knit stitches (I think)! Granted, I’ve done four or five rows and I have about four more stitches than I started with, but the number of stitches has stayed the same for the past couple of rows so I think I’ve stopped doing whatever was making this happen.

I think the major difference for me here, apart from the fact that this time around light dawned and I figured out how to cast on correctly, is that I stopped following the advice that I should, as a leftie, use the continental method. I just couldn’t pick up the yarn that way, so I tried the English method instead and things started going a bit more smoothly. The whole time I was working at it last night I kept announcing to Don, “Look! I’m knitting! Kind of!”

I’ve been calling it The Most Pathetic Knit Swatch Ever, though that’s not strictly true considering my last couple of attempts. It’s lumpy and bumpy, and I think I may have made some purl stitches by accident (I don’t actually know how to make purl stitches yet, but there are stitches in there that don’t look right—maybe they’re just screwed-up stitches). But it’s the furthest I’ve ever gotten with knitting, so there’s some hope for me yet. Here it is—no making fun, now! (I’m not entirely sure whether this is the front or the back—it’s the slightly better-looking side.)

In other news, I’ve been making crochet scrubbies, and I’m about to get on with the beaded shawl. I’m also thinking maybe a set of placemats for the kitchen set for my mom if time allows, but I’m not sure if that’ll work out or not.