Runs With Needles: Day One

Runs With Needles

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Day One

Day one of my knitting blog. Why have I started a knitting blog?

There are a couple of reasons.

  • I love reading knitting blogs and the ones I read have inspired me to start my own.
  • I know that if I don't keep track of my knitting projects starting now, I will probably regret it later on.
I better start this blog at the beginning.....

My late grandmother was a champion knitter. I rarely saw her without a pair of needles in her hands. When I was young (I'm thinking around 8 or 9), she taught me to knit. What a disaster! I was constantly dropping stitches, adding stitches, etc. etc. I became very frustrated and gave it up quickly.

My grandmother's knitting surrounds my life: I have three knitted afghans from her in my home. I have oodles (really, that's the technical term!) of dish cloths that she knitted for me. And at my parents' house I have a few baby blankets that she knit for me many years ago, after my father told her that she would probably be dead by the time I got around to having kids. (A wise man, my father.)

Other than seeing my grandmother's treasures daily, I did not think much of knitting until the fall of 2004. During the last half of 2004, my life literally fell apart. The details aren't important, but it was the worst 6 months of my life. The stress was literally eating me alive: I wasn't sleeping, I wasn't eating and I was just a fidgety mess.

Then one day at work, a co-worker was teaching another co-worker how to knit during the lunch hour. I sat in with them, just to chat. However, as the hour went on, I became intrigued and wanted to knit, too!

I stopped on the way home, bought some cheap yarn and needles and checked a book out of the library. That night, a new obsession love affair was born.

I started out by just practicing the cast-on, bind-off and garter stitch. I mastered these in three 'starter' projects. (Pictures to follow later.) I moved on to a scarf. I knitted three scarves. Then I made a large scarf/headwarmer garmet. I've been thrilled with all of these projects.

Currently, I have the following projects going: a baby blanket for J, a baby blanket for P, and a ruffled blanket for practice. I plan to post pics of all my projects while they are in progress and when they're finished.

So far, I have not mastered the purl stitch. I have tried, though! I'm going to take knitting classes as soon as I can afford it. My skills are so basic and therefore, so are my projects.

I prefer knitting on large needles (10 and above) and on circular needles. I have no clue how to use double pointed needles, but I want to learn so I can make funky socks!

I'm not a yarn snob. I buy the cheap stuff: Lions Brand and those types. Most importantly, I can't afford the 'higher end' yarns. Also, I like the yarns I use, so why change?

Since I can't possible use or give away all the items I plan on knitting, I've decided to start charity knitting. I checked out a few organizations and settled on this one:

http://www.stitchesfromtheheart.org/

I love to knit, so I figure I might as well put it to good use. :)

Enough rambling for one night. Why blog when I could be knitting?


posted by Kathy at 2/08/2005 11:52:00 PM

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