I have been knitting for about 5 or 6 years. I still consider myself a 'new' knitter. I have never done large projects like sweaters, or complicated lace items. I've made a few pairs of socks, some of which actually fit! I am gauge challenged, and I get bored quickly, therefore prefer small, uncomplicated projects like scarves, shawls on large needles, dish rags... you get the idea. I love playing around with different stitches though, and trying out different techniques, as evidenced by my YouTube videos. I absolutely love buying lots of yarn and squeezing it into Space Bags with the notion that "one day" I will utilize all of those stitch patterns and techniques I test and knit something amazing with it. I am far from an expert on knitting - I have actually completed very few items (other than the 100 or so scarves I made and tried to sell at a craft show....). I am in constant need of reminders for the simple things, like does K2Tog lean to the left or right???
I got started when my sister showed me a scarf that she had crocheted. Since I knew the very basics of crochet, I decided to pick up some yarn and hooks and make one for myself. (Turns out I didn't really know what I was doing, but that's another story!) I managed to make a few eyelash scarves that didn't look half bad as long as you didn't notice that they started out wide and became narrow as I neared the end. I was having fun with my new hobby. Now, I used to depend on public transportation before I had my car. Many of my fellow passengers had things to occupy them during the ride - magazines, newspapers, etc. One day, I happened to be sitting across from a woman who had some very skinny yarn and 4 long, skinny metal things with points at both ends (I now know these 'skinny metal things with points at both ends' to be double pointed needles). I couln't really tell what she was doing because her hands were moving so fast. She became a semi-regular on the bus, and as the time passed, I realized that she was knitting SOCKS! 'How cool' I thought. I had always been interested in knitting, but didn't know anyone who knew how to do it. Once again, I wished I knew how to knit. At that time, I had no clue the amount of information one can find on the world wide web. I was still kind of new at the internet thing, believe it or not.
One evening, as I was perusing the yarn at Wal-Mart, I saw a very pretty scarf pattern on the ball band of Red Heart something-or-other and decided I wanted to make it. The pattern called for a needle size I did not have in my meager crochet hook collection. So off I went in search of the size called for..... I looked, and looked, and looked but to no avail. I just could not find that size crochet hook. Maybe I read the pattern wrong? So I looked it over again, and realized that the pattern was for a knitted scarf, not crochet!! Right then and there, I decided I was going to learn to knit. I got one of those "I Can't Believe I'm Knitting!" instructional books, and by the time I arrived back home I could cast on and make a knit stitch!!! ( I wasn't doing the driving of course :0D) Although very loose and sloppy, I was thrilled that I had caught on so quickly and was proud of my little bit of fabric hanging off the needle. Learning to purl took a little more effort, but I also managed to grasp that stitch the same night. Still, I wished there were someone who could assure me I was doing this knitting thing correctly. Hoping to find something helpful online, I googled "free knitting videos". I found a limited number of videos, but it was enough to let me know I was on the right track. Anyhow, to make a long story short, I became completely addicted and decided I wanted to make my own videos when I discovered it was free to post onYouTube. Eventually, I got into the blog and podcast and more yarn than any one person needs. And here I am!
