New #10: Learn to Knit

Knitting may seem like a hobby best fit for grandmothers and cat ladies, but it's a skill this 20-something has wanted to learn for a long time. Whenever I see someone knitting, whether they're waiting at the DMV or stuck on a plane, they always seem so content in the task. That little ball of yarn and two needles take them away from the annoyances of the day and put them in they're own world of peaceful routine. This makes me jealous. I want an escape - and the handmade sweaters that come with it.

So at the suggestion of my friend Pamela, I took a knitting class. I'm very glad I did, because if I'd only had a few pictures in a "Learn How to Knit" book rather than an actually person showing me how to move my hands, I probably would have ended up stabbing something with the needles. And that would get me nowhere. Unfortunately, even with the teacher, I realized I don't have a knack for knitting.

The class was at a local wool store in a cozy living room-like area. Five other ladies were there with Pamela and me. We were all different ages, but each of us were gnawing at the chance to knit. And lucky for us, we had a very patient teacher who walked us through the process step by step.

Knitting starts with making a casting, I think it's called, which works as the base loops for the rest of the garment. This part I could do. Using our teacher's wordage, one must make a slingshot with the yarn, then move the needles down, around and through the loop. It's easy enough once you see it.

But then you have to start knitting. Ugh. To do this, you first stab one needle through the tiny loop, wrap some thread around it, bring it down through a new loop and then move that little, frail section from one needle to the next. Sound confusing, meticulous and irritating? It was.


I spend literally an hour trying to get a grip on this. It didn't take too long to get the idea, but actually doing it - and knitting anything even slightly presentable - took a lot longer. And the worst part was that everyone else seemed to get it. But not me. Throughout the class people literally laughed at my work. I didn't blame them. It was that bad.

Our knitting creations. Mine is the pathetic one on top.

By the end of the three hour session we'd also learned pearling. (Don't get me started on that. It's a different kind of stitch in the whole process. As if knitting wasn't hard enough!) Our teacher swears that by the end of next week's class, we'll have knitted our own beautiful scarves. We'll see about that. But until then, I am going to keep practicing. I'm armed with two needles, a blue ball of yarn and the determination to not suck. Who knows, maybe someday I'll quit grimacing as I work and start looking as content and happy as the knitters who inspired me to try this in the first place.

Pamela showing off her knitting skills.