Sunday, January 22, 2012

Knitting Update

So if you remember, one of my goals for this year was to learn the basics of knitting, crocheting, and sewing. I am just now realizing how lofty those goals are and, since my goals are rarely ever met anyways, I reserve the right to change them. After a week and a half of disaster slow learning, I am thinking I should 'master' one each year instead of learning the basics of all three in one year. And by master, I mean be able to make something that at least sort of  resembles whatever it is I'm trying to make.

Enter exhibit A:

Don't even ask me what happened on that one really pathetic row.


If you know anything about knitting, and even if you don't, you can see I've had a rough go of it. Now, admittedly, I got some bad news the day after my first class which made me an emotional wreck on and off last weekend, but I did find myself fighting back tears at least twice during my first few days of knitting. I don't like not getting things! I even drove the 30+ minute round trip to the store once to have the lady fix a mistake, except she wouldn't teach me, and I got home and promptly made the same mistake within minutes. Talk about wanting to cry!

Enter my super awesome, crafty beyond belief friend Jessica. She saved the day on many occasions and, get this, by phone! She had me send her pictures of my mistakes or questions, and would then walk me through it by phone. Do you know how hard it is to teach someone to knit by phone? No, I don't either, but I sure wouldn't ever want to try. She found me knitting videos that fit my personality and knitting style (versus the one the teacher recommended which may have exacerbated tears on one occasion), gave me encouragement when I was two seconds from tossing the needles off the balcony, and gave me exactly the instructions I needed to keep me calm. She told me to knit for a while, and then purl for a while. Going back and forth, when I wasn't good at either yet, was really toying with my emotions. So I knitted for quite a few days, and then purled for quite a few days. As of today, I've begun doing both back and forth, and it is going a million times better than it was when I first started. Luckily, this is just a practice swatch and isn't supposed to look like anything. The real test will come this Thursday at the second and last class when we knit a cotton wash cloth!

So after 1.5 weeks of knitting, I have declared 2012 the year of knitting. Crocheting and sewing, I'll see you another time. I've got some knitting butt to kick.

2 comments:

  1. Awww I love my twomom!!!! I'm so glad I could help it...would break my heart if you gave up so easily!!! Your teacher (while I'm sure she's probably a fabulous knitter) seems to be a few sweaters away from knitting maddness....she def didn't break it down beginner style so I'm glad I could help....getting started with anything is the hardest part! Your most recent rows look fabulous!!! Keep up the good work!!! And p.s. a weekend crafting retreat to Iowa and you will be crocheting and sewing in no time!! :)

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  2. It looks good to me fore a first try, I definitely wouldn't have done any better! Don't worry, you'll get it!

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