My grandmother on my mother’s side was the first person to interest me in knitting. She wasn’t a very experienced knitter, but she knew the basics enough to teach her granddaughter of eight years how to get started with two straight needles and some yarn.
My first attempt at a “scarf” was such a sorry sight I ended up using it for one of my dolls as a very uneven “blanket”.
When we were visiting with my father’s mother a year later, I was most intrigued with the slippers my grandmother was making. They were a checkerboard pattern that wove the yarn in the back to create a thickly cushioned, warm slipper.
I silently watched her without disturbing her then took my needles and two balls of yarn in the other room. When I came out and asked her how to end it, she almost fell off her chair.
It was just a little slipper – as for a baby, but she was impressed that I had learned by just watching, and immediately showed me how to finish it up.
So began my love of knitting, and shortly thereafter, crocheting.
I never learned how to follow a pattern back then, and I made most of my creations by watching others knit and crochet.
Eventually I had to learn to read and use a pattern, though, and my mother in law was a big help in getting me started in understanding that language.
When my kids were very young, I continued with small projects for them. But it wasn’t too long before I had too many irons in the fire and had to put my needles and yarn aside.
“Rediscovering” them a few years ago led me to the internet which has all kinds of patterns for any knitting project one could desire.
And not only patterns are on the web, but any tutorial for any stitch can be found – either in text, photo, or video.
I never thought I would ever be able to tackle the art of making cables with my knitting needles, much less follow a pattern to accomplish it.
My beloved teachers have been gone for a long time, but I would like to think they are happily watching what they taught a young girl so many years ago as she now sits with her new age computer teacher discovering new knitting techniques and patterns.
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