These days, it seems that to really validate something in your life, you have to blog about it. I'm currently obsessed with knitting and even though Ravelry meets much of my desire to organize my knitting obsession I still felt like I need an outlet to talk about it. Following the lead of other amazing knitting blogs (here, here and here), I thought I'd try to document my (mis) adventures in knitting.
After trying to curb my knitting in the spring/summer months, I recently told my husband that this hobby was here to stay and that this is where I wanted to put my extra time, and money (and I guess the focus of my Ph.D procrastination, unfortunately).
My knitting birth story is as follows: I've always been a crafty person and interested in visual arts in some way or another. As a child, I would paint, draw, make friendship bracelets, jewellery and even sponge painted a border in my bedroom by myself. I taught myself to knit in my early twenties and loved the satisfaction of creating something most people put a pretty high value on. However, for a long time, I stuck with the basics, knit and purl and purl and knit. While living in London, England, I found the local yarn shop, bought beautiful yarn but would make a variation of a garter stitch scarf. This would be my knitting MO for a while. I did really want to be better but I just never did. I signed up for classes twice and for some reason or another backed out (not because I was intimidated but just because of certain circumstances or schedule conflicts at the time).
A few years ago, while living in Montreal, I joined a causal Knit and Bitch group with some friends from McGill. There I learned the basics of crochet and learned to knit in the round and pick up some other basic skills. I was still doing very basic knits and never used a pattern. My crocheting actually took over for a while and I got quite good at it. Then my knitting turing point happened. Last December, now living in Toronto (yes I've moved a lot!), I went to my favourite yarn store. There was another customer in the shop exuberantly showing her girlfriend what she had recently knitted. As she showed her a luxurious chunky braided cowl, I was envious of her skills. I said, "That's so nice, I wish I could do that," and she replied, "You can!" Having a gift certificate from my husband (he takes good mental notes), I was convinced and splurged on the pricey yarn, the pattern book, the needles and notions required. I think the Malabrigo cowl was such great gateway knit for me: it knit up quickly, I learned to knit cables (cables!) and the yarn is a dream. The final product was beautiful and looked very professional. I was elated. I made two more for Christmas gifts (the recipients loved them) and from that project on I've become increasingly motivated to take on more projects with increased difficulty.
Since the cowl, I've knitted a long cabled scarf, three toques (this and this), and a few items for babies (this and this). I'm in no way an expert and some things are still quite daunting (stay tuned for my post on the proverbial Mount Everest: a cabled aran sweater) but I have the confidence that I can figure things out now. So here goes. I really want to hone this skill and I'm inspired to knit like I mean it.
