Sunday, October 27, 2013

A new Knitter!

I taught a friend to knit last Friday night.  It was late.  We were watching a movie at the same time.  This friend has insisted (for the four years I've known her) that she's not the crafty type, never has been, never will be... forget it.  She sat next to me and knitted... cast on and knitted row after row.  After awhile (and after several inspections on my part where I admired her perfect--no joke, incredibly straight even non-dropped stitches--work) she leans to me and asks why my knitting has holes in it.
I explained that I was making those holes, and then I showed her yo, k2tog.  She got it.  Did a row, and then went merrily on her way.
What makes this blog-worthy?  If you are a knitter, you know already, but if you haven't given it a try, and/or you have tried to pass on your craft to another person over the age of 20 or 60, I'll explain.  Learning to knit includes:

  1. Teeth-gnashing as  "It doesn't look right".
  2. Teeth-gnashing as "holes develop and stitches are increased and decreased without meaning to"
  3. No one knits with the TV on, and watches a movie at the same time or
  4. No one carries on a conversation while "learning to knit"
  5. The first piece of knitting is always thrown to the floor in disgust.
  6. You never ask to do more.
I don't know what happened...an alternate universe or something.

The next day, I chuckled and asked her if she had knitted any today (because surely she slept, and how can a beginner...???) and she answered no.
An hour later we were packing to leave and she announced she would knit a little to see if she could still do it, and... SHE'S HOOKED!
No help from me... she picked up where she left off, and on the car ride home she asked about binding off.  Well, she didn't know the term for it, but she wondered how you get a finished edge.  I was driving, so I explained as best I could, and she (taking the cue from one intrepid knitter to another) started binding off....  OK... I had to pull over a couple of times, but she got it!
I can't wait to see...take a photo for you.
It was the first time I witnessed someone starting with very little pain, and producing stitches where we didn't even count the number of stitches because it was so straight (garter stitch) I knew there was no need to confirm she had done it correctly!
I hope I get a picture before she rips it out...  Curious about who I'm talking about?

Above project is 19th-Century Honeycomb Stitch Scarf by Diana Foster

3 comments:

  1. It's so gratifying to teach someone who 'gets' it. CUte story about eh marathoner. I can't imagine.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You know her for 4 years, she's not familiar with knitted lace, she obviously has talent for crafts (that comes from somewhere), she binds off without knitting a proper length scarf... I'm pretty sure, she's your cute-as-a-button granddaughter!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gosh! That's a great guess, but it's a 60 year old friend who I've known for four years, and she's moving in one week!

      Delete

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