I Thought I Swore Off Knitting

I learned to knit when I was a child, as so many of us did. My sister taught me. She was left handed and I was right handed. Somehow I ended up learning to knit continental style. I didn't realize that this was desirable until recently.

I never really got into knitting. Maybe it was the first garment that I ever made. It was for my boyfriend, who later became my husband. I knitted a solid green V-neck vest. This was back in the 70's. Thinking back on it now, I must have used a synthetic yarn. That vest was stiff. He called it his viking vest. He may have worn it once.

I started knitting again when everyone was making those skinny scarves with the eyelash type yarns and the size 19 needles. It was fun, for a while. I tried making a couple of sweaters, but I never grasped the concept of test swatches. So the very expensive sweater that I made ended up being resized with a pair of scissors and a sewing machine. That didn't work very well.

Then I got into making felted purses. That really worked well for me. Swatching wasn't important and if a stitch or 2 was dropped, you couldn't see it after the purse was felted. I did try socks, but you can imagine how that ended. My favorite piece I made during those knitting times, was my needle holder.

I made it from wool fabric that I hand dyed. I love dragon flies. It folded up and the silk ribbons were there to tie it shut. The inside, which was made separately, had pockets to store straight and circular needles. I used cotton fabric, which also had dragonflies on it.

If I were to make another one, I would put a stiff stabilizer in between the outside and inside. I also would add a flap at the top to prevent the needles from falling out.

So after making a bunch of felted purses, I just decided knitting wasn't my cup of tea. If I wanted to sit and do some type of handwork, I preferred beading, embellishing and embroidery. I gave away all of my yarn. I did keep my needles just because I loved my needle holder.

Then the other day, I met my friend Hattie for lunch and she is wearing the most awesome scarf. I love it. It has these fringes along the long edges. I wear those kind of scarves a lot. But I've never seen one knitted. Before the end of the day, we hit the yarn store so I can knit again after being knit-free for 4 years.

Oh well, at least I had the needles.