This is how it begins
Whenever I think of my grandmother, I immediately picture her sitting in front of the TV watching her soaps. She was a CBS fan, which meant that she watched Guiding Light and Young & The Restless. When I would visit her, she didn't change her watching habits, although (as the story goes) one day she asked my mom if it was okay for me to watch the shows, seeing as how there was kissing and murder and things. My mom simply replied that it was fine, but Grandma had to answer any questions I might have. Seeing as how I was both inquisitive and observant, my grandmother quickly adopted the habit of sending me out of the room on errands any time the show started getting particularly violent or porny. I'd fetch her glasses of water or a pack of gum (Juicy Fruit, always Juicy Fruit) or another ball of yarn.The yarn was for whatever afghan she was working on at the time. Grandma came from an era and a society where sitting around doing nothing was not acceptable, so if she was sitting and watching TV, then her hands would be busy making something. In her case, it was afghans. Tons and tons of afghans. She made me an afghan in this very 1970's color scheme, dark brown-tan-cream-burnt orang. It was a classic ripple afghan and it stayed on my bed for probably 15 years. I still have it buried in one of my closets; I have yet to find a blanket as warm and comforting as that afghan. Unfortunately for my grandmother, she fell in love with that pattern after she promised it to me. She spent the rest of her life (unfortunately only 3 or 4 more years) trying to replicate it. She never did, but when my grandparents died unexpectedly in '84, we found a cupboard full of afghans that she had crocheted while watching her soaps. They all had the same color scheme as mine, but none of them were exactly right. But hey, at least she had something to keep her hands busy.
Grandma passed the yarnwork gene on to my mom, of course, and Mom crocheted until her job made her carpal tunnel too painful to crochet any more. I have a blanket from her too, a red and black and white one that she made for me to use when sitting in the stands after band tournaments. They were my school colors, and my friends were allg rateful that we had it because it got cold on those metal bleachers during damp October nights. And I'm still trying to figure out how to get the snowflakes out of her collection of Christmas ornaments...tiny things crocheted from gossamer white thread, then starched within an inch of their lives. Her hands got bad before she could teach me how to make those, so stealing hers is my only option.
She taught me to crochet, too. But I've only been okay at it. I still can't master the ripple blanket, mostly because I'm bad at stitch counting. I can't read a crochet pattern any better than I can read Latin. And for some reason, I cannot for the life of me make straight edges. The scarves I've created were all either wavy edged or made from long chains of single and double stitches; they're easy to hide crooked ends on.
But I love working with my hands, I love having something to do while I sit and watch TV at night. If I don't have something to keep me busy, I end up fidgeting or snacking or tormenting the cats. So I decided this year that I was going to learn how to knit, damn it. And earlier this month, on Super Bowl Sunday, I did.
I learned how to knit and I absolutely love it. The patterns are easy to read, the stitches are easy to count and see and work with, and glory of glories, my edges are straight! My friend handed me a pair of size 10 needles and a few balls of yarn, taught me the basic garter stitch, and I took to it like the standard fish to water. I finished my first scarf within a couple of weeks, and decided to teach myself how to bind it off. I even taught myself how to cast on, how to purl, how to do a stockinette stich.
I see a problem here though. I'm obsessed with it already. I found myself caressing some pairs of bamboo needles the other day, and more than once I've spouted off with another idea I've had to Things I Shall Knit. A sweater for Kevin! Hand/wrist warmers for everyone at work to protect them from our rogue air conditioners! Little jackets with matching caps for my mother-in-law's weiner dogs! Knit caps with ear holes for the cats! A new purse for me! I'm plotting trips to yarn stores and cruising through Knitty.com trying to decide just how brave I am.
I'd write more about it (because really, I can't shut up right now because I am so enamored with knitting), but I have a scarf to finish. It's cold in Wisconsin, and my husband needs it fr our trip next week.
(Man, we're going to have to move somewhere colder just so I can keep knitting stuff that I can actually use, aren't I?)
Labels: craftiness, knitting
posted by Melinda @ 3:06 PM
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