I learned to knit from books. When I say this to people I get stares of incredulity. Not because I'm slow, but because when I was learning to knit there was no internet, no YouTube and knitting was definitely not the new yoga. There was no new yoga.
Learning to knit, as anyone who picks up needles and yarn for the first time will tell you, is not easy. Once you've learned the basics, though, you realize, that although knitting is easy to execute, it is complex in ways that make you wonder at your own genius one day and sure you have pea soup for brains the next.
Actually, I really had no interest as a kid, in anything other than my bike, my skate board and my sling shot. I was kind of a tomboy. The circumstances that brought yarn into my life had more to do with my Grandmother wanting to keep me breathing at least long enough to give me back to my parents at the end of the Summer. Then whether or not I survived to age 18 was their problem, not hers. To keep me busy, and out of trouble, she handed me a ball of blue acrylic yarn and a crochet hook.
My first project, under her guidance, was a pair of slippers. She never worked from a pattern. She just knew where to put the hook, how many loops to pull through, how many times to wrap the yarn. It was magic to me.
At the end of the Summer, I went home without yarn or hook. As soon as I got home, I hopped on my bike and rode to K-Mart. Way back, they sold yarn. I bought yarn and a set of hooks, which I still have and use. I made miles of crochet chain. Miles. I couldn't remember what else to do. Back to K-Mart and the yarn dept. I bought a Leisure Arts afghan booklet. That got me going. My mother helped a little, but she really wasn't into crochet, or knitting. She tried to share what she knew, but, you know, mother-daughter learning block, or whatever. It wasn't working.
Years passed and I crocheted a lot. A LOT. Most of my friends tolerated my yarn and accompanying obsession with making stuff for them. By high school I kept most of my creations reserved for family members. I still wasn't knitting though, and it never really crossed my mind until ...
I got married. Really young. I became a mother. Really young. Is the call to knitting associated with pregnancy or postpartum hormones or something or other? I don't know. What I do know is that I wanted to make knit fabric. There was NO ONE to show me. Grandma only crochet. Mom, well, there was that block thing. Nope, it was books. One, then another and another and another. I'm pretty persistent, and a little stubborn. I kept going. You know, now looking back, I don't remember the pain of learning - I know there had to be some. I remember the satisfaction of having created something awesome. Kind of like giving birth.
Anyhow. I learned to knit. I knit a lot. A LOT. More than crochet. In fact, I think knitting has taken over a significant part of my life. Or had, until the teaching started. The teaching others to knit, now that is what has really pushed me into the realm of crazy knitting lady. Well, maybe not crazy, I guess that part is subjective.
