So good Kavitha to remind us all of where knitting begins. Someone lends you some needles and a ball of yarn and casts on some stitches, than shows you how to knit your first row and away you go with a new pastime that will last you a lifetime. Or, you buy a magazine with instructions on how to cast on in 3 different ways and you try all three! You can do this knitting stuff! Well, accept for purling...UGH! why is that part of knitting!?!? But you keep at it and pretty soon, you purl with the best of them and have forgotten when it almost made you give up knitting. Knitting becomes a reliable pal that sooths you and rewards you. It teaches you patience and tenacity and gives you confidence in yourself. Before you know it, you have knitting friends around the world!
Sandy believe it or not! A convenience store owner in South Korea gave me her knitting needles, because she couldn't see very well anymore to knit. I have bought magazines and tried to knit everything. I couldn't purl for months after I learnt to do the knit stitch. You almost wrote my story word for word. 🤗🤗
how funny, because i picked up purling right away, and for the longest time, my *knit* stitches were actually knit-to-the-back stitches because i couldn't wrap my mind around sticking the needle in from the front.
with softer yarns, i actually felt the difference. and THEN i learned the difference (twist to the right, twist to the left).....love knitting so much more than crochet because there's so much more variations in stitches!! i'm now fluent in chinese AND japanese!!!! haha
Interesting about wanting to 'knit' thru the back of the stitches. There are quite a few knitters who do that and because their knitting is consistent and pretty, I like how it looks! I have a couple of cardigans with twisted stitch ribbing on the cuffs both inside and out. That way they still look pretty and 'finished' when the cuffs are folded back. So fun when one starts to feel fluent with their knitting!!!
it took me a long time to realize that they looked different. i like the ktb especially with really soft yarns, to me, the twisting takes away from the floofiness!!!!
Love your story Kavitha! In many ways our early knitting paths are similar! I would see pattern stitches used in a sweater knitting book and teach myself how to create that pattern. I didn't have access to many types yarns, So I didn't make many sweaters, but I learned a lot about knitting anyway!
Only recently discovered Percival Everett. Am knitting a prayer shawl. The woman in charge of the ministry was far too excited when I said I could knit.
i started off as a crocheter, mom taught me when i was 14. she tried to teach me to knit, but i just didn't get it. i learned to knit from youtube, and i actually was doing it right when mom taught me, i just couldn't see it!! now i love to knit, and i consider myself a master tinker!!! (we know what that means!!)
when i first started i called it *piss me off knitting* so i can relate to that learning curve!!!! hahaha
I came to knitting from crochet too. It's kinda hard when you already know something reasonably well. You start to expect too much out of yourself. I can relate to the "piss me off knitting" part. :) I'm glad you enjoyed the post.
I can almost remember learning to knit but it was 60 years ago…
I still work full time as an RN in a hospital, so I need to knit for relaxation.😊 I currently have a baby blanket on the needles and I’m sewing up a nice cabled winter sweater for my man. Knitting is my daily therapy. Thank you for your thoughtful newsletter. I really enjoy reading it.
Ahahah, so satisfying to see the sigmoid curve applied to learning to knit. A lot of us would develop more discipline and patience should they had this image in their mind while learning anything…😏
So true!! Things become a bit easier to accept, if we accept the existence of the learning curve. Thank you! I also especially loved placing the yarn ball at the origin. :))
Hi Kavitha, I love your Mika vest! I am waiting for this to come out to add to my spring wardrobe. Do you think Brooklyn Shelter will work?
Also, I just finished rereading The Handmaids Tale- it feels timely. I haven’t read it since it came out, and I was blown away by the beauty of the prose. I highly recommend it, whether you’ve read it or not.
Then I read Piransi, which was really gorgeous and entirely different, but still shared themes.
Your writing always has me putting away the iPad and reaching for my knitting. Thank you for that!
Thank you so much for all your kind words. I am using Targhee from Little Skein , which has more plies and worsted spun. I haven't worked with Shelter yet. It is Targhee-Columbia 2-ply but I have heard that because it is woolen spun, it blooms really well. I feel like it will be a great match, still swatching will be the best way to know.
I have recently finished Handmaid's tale - sadly as you say it felt timely. I am adding Piranesi to my queue. Thank you for the recommendation.
So good Kavitha to remind us all of where knitting begins. Someone lends you some needles and a ball of yarn and casts on some stitches, than shows you how to knit your first row and away you go with a new pastime that will last you a lifetime. Or, you buy a magazine with instructions on how to cast on in 3 different ways and you try all three! You can do this knitting stuff! Well, accept for purling...UGH! why is that part of knitting!?!? But you keep at it and pretty soon, you purl with the best of them and have forgotten when it almost made you give up knitting. Knitting becomes a reliable pal that sooths you and rewards you. It teaches you patience and tenacity and gives you confidence in yourself. Before you know it, you have knitting friends around the world!
Sandy believe it or not! A convenience store owner in South Korea gave me her knitting needles, because she couldn't see very well anymore to knit. I have bought magazines and tried to knit everything. I couldn't purl for months after I learnt to do the knit stitch. You almost wrote my story word for word. 🤗🤗
how funny, because i picked up purling right away, and for the longest time, my *knit* stitches were actually knit-to-the-back stitches because i couldn't wrap my mind around sticking the needle in from the front.
with softer yarns, i actually felt the difference. and THEN i learned the difference (twist to the right, twist to the left).....love knitting so much more than crochet because there's so much more variations in stitches!! i'm now fluent in chinese AND japanese!!!! haha
Each one's story is so unique but also very similar. I love that about knitting. :) Thank you for sharing yours.
Interesting about wanting to 'knit' thru the back of the stitches. There are quite a few knitters who do that and because their knitting is consistent and pretty, I like how it looks! I have a couple of cardigans with twisted stitch ribbing on the cuffs both inside and out. That way they still look pretty and 'finished' when the cuffs are folded back. So fun when one starts to feel fluent with their knitting!!!
it took me a long time to realize that they looked different. i like the ktb especially with really soft yarns, to me, the twisting takes away from the floofiness!!!!
Love your story Kavitha! In many ways our early knitting paths are similar! I would see pattern stitches used in a sweater knitting book and teach myself how to create that pattern. I didn't have access to many types yarns, So I didn't make many sweaters, but I learned a lot about knitting anyway!
Only recently discovered Percival Everett. Am knitting a prayer shawl. The woman in charge of the ministry was far too excited when I said I could knit.
This is my first Percival too. Hope you are enjoying your project. ❤️
It is a prayer shawl so not super exciting but the yarn is oh so soft. What Percival are you reading? I've read James and Half an Inch of Water.
I just finished Erasure. Thanks, I’ll add those two to my queue. 🙂
Definitely have Erasure on my TBR list.
i started off as a crocheter, mom taught me when i was 14. she tried to teach me to knit, but i just didn't get it. i learned to knit from youtube, and i actually was doing it right when mom taught me, i just couldn't see it!! now i love to knit, and i consider myself a master tinker!!! (we know what that means!!)
when i first started i called it *piss me off knitting* so i can relate to that learning curve!!!! hahaha
I came to knitting from crochet too. It's kinda hard when you already know something reasonably well. You start to expect too much out of yourself. I can relate to the "piss me off knitting" part. :) I'm glad you enjoyed the post.
I can almost remember learning to knit but it was 60 years ago…
I still work full time as an RN in a hospital, so I need to knit for relaxation.😊 I currently have a baby blanket on the needles and I’m sewing up a nice cabled winter sweater for my man. Knitting is my daily therapy. Thank you for your thoughtful newsletter. I really enjoy reading it.
Aw, thank you for sharing a bit about your knitting life. Sounds wonderful to me. I am so glad you enjoy the newsletter.
I love the stitches in the body of this. Is it one particular combination of stitches?
I've used bamboo stitch on the body of the vest. :) Thank you!
Beautiful work - I would so love to knit more - I crochet better, love your Mika vest.
Thank you so much for your kind words. I started with crochet too, years ago. :)
Love your doodle!
Thank you!
I loved Oona Out of Order!❤️
Brilliantly written. I loved it too!
Ahahah, so satisfying to see the sigmoid curve applied to learning to knit. A lot of us would develop more discipline and patience should they had this image in their mind while learning anything…😏
So true!! Things become a bit easier to accept, if we accept the existence of the learning curve. Thank you! I also especially loved placing the yarn ball at the origin. :))
Currently I'm knitting a cowl out of the Blueberries for Sal color way from Little Skein and a hat in an Evergreen color.
Blueberries for Sal is delightful. Enjoy your projects!
Hi Kavitha, I love your Mika vest! I am waiting for this to come out to add to my spring wardrobe. Do you think Brooklyn Shelter will work?
Also, I just finished rereading The Handmaids Tale- it feels timely. I haven’t read it since it came out, and I was blown away by the beauty of the prose. I highly recommend it, whether you’ve read it or not.
Then I read Piransi, which was really gorgeous and entirely different, but still shared themes.
Your writing always has me putting away the iPad and reaching for my knitting. Thank you for that!
Thank you so much for all your kind words. I am using Targhee from Little Skein , which has more plies and worsted spun. I haven't worked with Shelter yet. It is Targhee-Columbia 2-ply but I have heard that because it is woolen spun, it blooms really well. I feel like it will be a great match, still swatching will be the best way to know.
I have recently finished Handmaid's tale - sadly as you say it felt timely. I am adding Piranesi to my queue. Thank you for the recommendation.
Love the doodle 😍
Thank you Nan! ❤️
I love this piece! Your learning curve graphic is spot on!!
Thank you Anne! After I started drawing the curve itself as a piece of yarn, it was all so fun. :))
Percival Everett is fantastic
I’m enjoying it thoroughly! 😍