Welcome to my blog Untwisted Stitches.
From as early as I could remember, I wanted to learn how to knit. It was an odd desire, since no one I personally knew practiced the craft. My grandmother, who passed away when I was barely four, knew how to knit. She tried to pass it on to her children but it didn't stick.
When I was eleven years old my mother presented me with my first pair of knitting needles and badly photocopied pages of a worn knitting book. The pages were photocopied on an ancient machine, and were copies from my mother's work friends even older knitting book. The words were barely legible and the pictures were not much better. Determined to learn I hankered down and did my best to imitate what I could glean from the pages.
From then on, whenever I was stressed, antsy, bored, or anything I would pick up these needles and a ball of Red Heart yarn and knit aimlessly. I enjoyed not just the process but the creating too. There have been periods in my life where I wouldn't knit for years and the urge would just come. I'd fish out my needles and tinker away.
Once I entered college, I did not knit consistently. It was not until my two years ago, when a girl in my creative writing class was knitting a hat for her boy friend, when I realized how much I had missed knitting. I asked her about it and she told me about this site she'd discovered called Ravelry. I made an account the minute I could but was discourage when the little craft store by my home no longer sold yarn. It was another six months before I found a Michaels. I gleefully bought yarns and needles and started aimlessly knitting again.
My boyfriend wanted a scarf so I browsed numerous google search results for a pattern I liked. I was still hesitant to use Ravelry. (I am incapable of following instructions and was overwhelmed by all I had to take in). After a few months I finally decided to give Ravelry a solid try and became addicted. In less than an hour I had queued twenty projects. I began to attack my queue with vengeance but only made hats and scarves. As I soon discovered on YouTube, I knit my knit stitch through the back. As I looked over my work, it didnt look terribly different, so I continued to knit the way I always had. As I began to gain more courage and try knitting more complicated patterns (shying away from colo work and lace), I noticed certain things didn't work like correctly-most importantly gauge.
As I began toying with the idea of trying to create my own patterns, the idea to learn more about and fix my incorrect stitching, grew along with it. For my birthday my boyfriend bought me Knit Pick's Harmony Wood circular needle set, Vogue Knittings Stichionary Vol. 1, a colorwork book, and most importantly Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Workshop.
I had heard Elizabeth's name whispered reverently around the blogs I dared to look through, in books I looked through while waiting for friends in Barnes and Noble, and everywhere in between. I knew if I wanted to re-teach myself how to knit I would have to start with her. As I started to read her book I read her say how knitting through the back stitch as a way to decrease twisted the stitch(which explained why my hat decreases never looked quite right).
As I continue to learn and read from the master, I believe decided I wanted to create a blog. I planned on using it kind of like my diary and a way to share my experience. Mother insists I am secretive, so I figure this is a lesson in being more open to others and strangers.
This blog will chronicle what I learn and think as I untwist my stitch and attempt to create direction in my knitting and make my own patterns.
No comments:
Post a Comment