Monday, April 26, 2010

Knit & Crochet Blog Week: Monday - Starting Out - knitcroblo1

How and when did you begin knitting/crocheting? Was it a skill passed down through generations of your family, or something you learned from Knitting For Dummies? What or who made you pick up the needles/hook for the first time? Was it the celebrity knitting ‘trend’ or your great aunt Hilda?

The story of how and when I began knitting starts with my grandmother. Grammy was a Knitter. My mother would take her to Bradlees, our local department store, to buy big skeins of Red Heart that she would knit up into sweaters or blankets. When the craft bug hit me, for some reason I decided I wanted to crochet. I asked Grammy to teach me, but she stubbornly said “I don’t crochet, I knit. I’ll teach you to knit.” And I stubbornly replied back “I don’t want to learn to knit. I want to crochet.” And that was that.

Fast forward 5 or 10 years. Grammy was no longer with us. One weekend, Pete and I found ourselves in The Discovery Store at Quincy Market and I came across a book called Knitting Pretty. Suddenly I decided I was going to be a knitter. I bought that book. I bought a skein of yarn. I bought a set of double pointed needles – which was the wrong kind for what I wanted to knit, but at that point I had no idea. But soon, Pete and I got engaged and learning to knit took a backseat to wedding planning.

A year or so later, I finally began to seriously try to teach myself to knit. Knitting Pretty was a good beginner book with a lot of great projects. But I couldn’t quite get the hang of things. So I looked for more knitting books and stumbled across Stitch n Bitch. This book changed things!! This book made it all click. This book made me a Knitter too.



I’ve come a long way since those first projects. It’s been a great journey that I look forward to continuing. My only regret? That I didn't let Grammy be the one who taught me to knit.

7 comments:

JelliDonut said...

Great story! Thanks for sharing it.

Melissa said...

What a great story! :)

bmom said...

I think some of the yarn in my bags is from Bradlees!

Those first items you made are very cute. I'm sure your Grammy is very proud that you taught yourself to knit.

knitseashore said...

I guess that strange knit-crochet rivalry thing was going on a long time ago. I nodded at the screen when I read about your grandmother buying the Red Heart. That was like my mom, buying those big skeins of yarn...to crochet afghans (she still does). She gave me her small stash of knitting needles and books a long time ago since she "doesn't knit." Strange, isn't it?

Lynn said...

LOL I love how stubborn you and your grandma were!! Great story!

Knitting Books said...

What a lovely memory of your grandma. It looks like you got round to her way of thinking eventually!

sara said...

Stitch n Bitch is a great book!

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