{How I Started Kniting} - knitcroblo1

  I'm excited to be participating in the first ever Knit and Crochet Blog Week!  Welcome to any new readers! Today's topic is "Starting Out" and that topic just happened to be my very first blog post ever in my entire life and the start of this blog.  So here's a replay of that post.  I'm looking forward to reading everyone else's stories too!  It's going to be a great week!


July 5th, 2009,

The story of how I came to knit is one that is near and dear to me. My mother's mother (pictured right) was an avid knitter, and I remember many sweaters, mittens and hats for my sister, brother and I when we were young. I was never much interested in the process myself, figuring I'd learn sooner or later, until Grandma became suddenly very ill. That trip home I spent a whole week with her in bed or on the couch and she taught me how to knit just the basics: knit, purl, cast on, cast off, that kind of stuff. She gave me a set of size 4 needles and let me pick out a couple of balls of yarn from her stash. I didn't really think it would be the last time I'd see her because the doctors had given her about 2 years. After a month, though, and once all her kids had all made it back to see her, I suppose she felt the time was right and the struggle with chemotherapy wasn't worth it and she let go. It was a huge loss for our whole family, felt even today almost 10 years later. This picture that I've posted was taken after the diagnosis and the last photo I have of her. I remember her as such a courageous woman and the anchor for her entire group of friends and family. She was too young, 72 I believe, when she passed.

So for years afterward it was too painful for me to pull out the project I had begun while I was sitting beside my mentor and working under her supervision. The drawstring bag made of left-over christmas fabric that housed my materials was kept tucked up in the top of the closet and forgotten. It wasn't until I had moved across the country to Virginia that I heard of it again from a friend who offered to mail it out to me. I was so excited that I hadn't lost this treasure forever! Now I'm teaching myself the skills necessary to carry on the tradition of hand-knit gifts that my grandmother honoured us with.

So far my progress has been slow. I don't know anyone in the immediate area who knits that I can go to with questions and there are no convenient knitting shops. I've made good use of knittinghelp.com though! In my next post I'll share with you the few small projects I've already completed and the ones I'm working on right now!

Thank you so much for visiting! I hope to be an active part of the whole knitting community, so leave lots of comments and introduce yourself! :)

-Sarah