pointysticks.net

My first knitting project was a bag. I was 23. I had just learned how to knit and wanted to knit myself a pretty handbag. I did. It had yarn overs. It had beads. It was a vintage pattern from a friends ancient Godey’s magazine and it told me to turn at the end of each row. I felt pretty accomplished when I was done.

Learning to knit in an ivory castle isn’t easy. I had my Mary Thomas’s Knitting book and the DMC needlework encyclopedia. I knew no knitters that would teach me, being dyslexic and left handed, I suppose pretty much everyone in my family figured I would be consigned to rectangular items or eternal frustration.

The first modern pattern I used confused me, mostly because the word “turn” was not at the end of every row. So I’d actually knit from left to right English style, and then right to left in continental. (Remember, I’d *never* actually seen someone knit by hand in person, only on machines.) I never felt that purl stitches were harder than knit stitches, and started doing intarsia wondering why it was described as being so difficult to follow a chart.

I knit a plaid patterned baby blanket, the front facing me the entire time. It was easy.

So then I was invited to a shindig with some coworkers, a few were also knitters, and that’s when they noticed that I wasn’t turning my knitting unless told to turn by the pattern (as in the reduction stage of a sock heel.) That explained why some written stitch patterns just didn’t work out when I was knitting them, and it was a huge “ah-ha!” moment for me.

I’ve settled into knitting continental style, left handed, much to consternation of a few people that insisted since I know how to knit “the right way” that I should adapt to take that style completely. My crochet tension has alway been managed by my right hand and that is the most comfortable way to manage tension when knitting. I do enough stuff right handed, I shouldn’t be forced to be in reverse all the time.

Anyway, this little bit of back story is why when someone asks me a remedial question, I don’t laugh hysterically or poke fun, because sometimes a very basic bit of information can overlooked or misunderstood. Secretly, I might be tempted to suggest to certain people that they not be allowed to use the internet unsupervised, but otherwise I’m well behaved about it.

Speaking of remedial. I have knit some potholders from cotton, in garter stitch. Yes, I still think cotton is a stupid choice for potholders because it has no thermal resistance and is flammable, but it’s a calculated risk and the yarn is very pretty. Pretty wins. I need more pretty in my life. I will soak my pretties in alum solution as a safety measure, fire is pretty too, just in it’s proper place.