The Road to Hell is Lined with Yarn

Unrolling the Ball

I admit, I once was one of those people who regarded knitting as a hobby for lonely old women. I could picture them sitting in worn-out recliners, little gold crosses dangling from their necks, skirts down to their ankles, an aged cat resting at their feet. And then, a few years ago, I met my best friend.

Maria is not your stereotypical knitter. Rather than being 62, she's 26; rather than having white, permed hair, she has dark, wild, short hair with the occasional stripe of pink or purple when she feels like it. Rather than wearing sensible slacks or a long house dress, she wears skirts she makes out of T-shirts and hand-knits that don't match the rest of her outfit. Maria is pretty damn cool.

You can imagine my surprise when, the first time I was invited into her home, I saw piles and piles of yarn skeins. Rich cashmeres, fuzzy wools, colorful cotton blends. Her couch was draped in beautiful hand-knit blankets, and there was more than one project sitting on the cushions, still on the needles, waiting for attention.

Not long after, I wanted to learn. She taught me the basics, and eventually I knit a big ol' blanket for my father (and by knit, I mean knit - nothing special, not even one solitary purl stitch). Then I ended up moving an hour and a half out of town, and though we talk all the time about things other than knitting and obviously maintain a good friendship, I no longer have my own personal teacher.

Learning On My Own

I've had to learn a lot by myself with, of course, the help of Google. I taught myself how to bind off, because I knew that calling her at 3:00 a.m. when I was ready to finish a small project wasn't a good idea. Not that she wouldn't have been awake, but because it's hard to describe it over the phone. I've been teaching myself everything ever since.

I still have a lot of opportunity for growth. That's my nice way of saying, "Holy shit, I suck." I just started a new project, and realized that there are several ways to make a decrease, and though they all must be different, they all seem the same to me.

This evening, I've been swimming in "k2tog" and "cdd" and "ssk," and wondering what the difference between all three could possibly be. So far, all the descriptions I have found seem to be the same thing, but in different words: "Knit two stitches as one;" "Slip two stitches, then knit together;" "Slip two, knit one, slip back."

I'll figure it all out, and then I'll blog about it.

In the meantime, who doesn't need an awesome bat shawl?