Sunday, April 23, 2006

Ah, to knit with nimble fingers...

some day! :) Right now the fingers are not so nimble!


I have begun the scarf that Dorothy sent me in my "beginner knit kit." I mentioned her generosity before, but here's a picture of the kit. Hedgehog pattern, mohair and variegated fine fibers - originally cast on and one row knit on that lovely blue taped pen - illustrated directions in the letter to transfer the cast-on/1 row knit to my own size 11 needles, AND some Cascade 220 yarn to practice other stitches as I go forward.


I've been doing a couple of rows at a time on the scarf - think I'm up to 10 - in between resting my sinus-aching head and playing nonsense games on the computer which do not require my sinus-aching head to think while playing (i.e., no word games!)! I have managed to pick up a stitch somewhere, but it looks good so I am NOT frogging this one!

However, at the rate I'm going, it will take me a month to finish this scarf! I am determined to get quicker and better and not give up the pursuit of knitting perfection! Knitters are such fun people and I want to be one - how else can I justify the purchase of soft, precious sock yarn and the circular needle kit and the mohair and the double pointed needles and... all that good stuff I WANT to get!

Whoosh ~~ for a minute there I thought I had already purchased all that stuff! Must've been a dream! All of that is in the wish list in my mind - plus some beautiful yarn I fondled at the Yarn Garden in Annapolis -- the only LYS that I have found in a drivable (less than 1 hour) distance to me. The Yarn Garden happens to be open on Thursday evenings (the only day it is open past 5) and that happens to be one of the days I take my son to Annapolis for meetings. So, son can go to the meeting and I can go to the Yarn Garden! Perfect! The ladies there will help me, if I need help, and they'll let me sit and knit - (or crochet or needlepoint or embroider - they do it all!) without buying a thing... though I'd feel obligated to buy something every once in a while!

This one - The Celtic Yarn Shop - was intriguing when I visited my friend in Ellicott City. I'm not sure I'd drive an hour just to go there. Actually, I'm not sure I'd drive an hour for any yarn shop. I'd have to have another need to go there - such as the son's meetings I mentioned above.

This store ~ Stitch Today - Knot Tomorrow ~ opened near me (only 10 minutes away!). I had such high hopes for this little shop. What a great name it has! But alas, it is all about embroidery: cross-stitch, ribbon embroidery, etc. Nary a knitting needle nor crochet hook in sight!

1 comment:

Dorothy Neville said...

You will get more nimble, it just takes time. All that straightforward knit stitching will help, and the yarn/design of the scarf will be very forgiving of the inevitable unevenness as you learn.

Zach's first scarf, the red one, took him almost a month. And just a few months later, he knit the hedgehog in less than 10 hours of actual knitting time.

It's great that you can sit and knit in the Annapolis YS. How weird that a store can open and sell embroidery and not knitting? Doesn't seem that it would have enough customer base, and with the nearest yarn store an hour away...