K is for... Knitting

Well it couldn't really be anything else could it?

I thought I'd do the story of how I got started knitting, and show you my amazing first creations.

My gran used to knit, although I never remember her knitting. There are, however, lots of pictures of knitted jumpers which I am assured she knit for me, and she did teach me to knit when I was about 6

This is the amazing garter stitch scarf I created between the ages of 6 and 7. I was really impressed when I fished it out at how even my gauge is, and that there are no yarn overs or holes anywhere!

And here is the grateful recipient (yes I still have him) Bongo the monkey, and one of my favourite toys when I was little.

And after successfully finishing that wonderfully loud piece of knitting, I put it aside for the next 9 years. At 15, our GCSE textiles group took a trip to the Harrogate knitting and stitch show, which had a section teaching people how to knit. We got a free set of needles, a free ball of yarn, and a few minutes of teaching, then we just sat around and chatted and knit for about an hour. It was great fun and so I finished up my ball of yarn, then ran out. I wasn't given the ball band, so the knitting went into a bag at the back of my wardrobe, and there it stayed.

Until I discovered MochiMochi Land. I have talked about it before, and I have no idea how I stumbled upon it, but the toys there really took my fancy, and I discovered amigurumi. After a lot of amigurumi pattern trawling (and I didn't even know about Ravelry at this point), I decided that I really had to make one of my own! So I headed up to a local yarn store I had spotted up the road from where I was living, to buy some lovely cheap acrylic yarn to make the toys. Then I spotted something on one of the dark shelves behind the counter. It was my yarn! I could finish my scarf!

And knowing nothing about dye lots or anything, I bought 2 ball of the lovely James C. Brett Rio and started knitting. But the indeterminable stockinette stitch got so dull, and I put it down again to make my cute toys (which also never got finished)...

Then, I picked it up again recently. It's hideous! It's so bright, far too wide, holey and gets wider as it goes on. Also, it suffers horribly from the stockinette stitch curl, as well as being pretty darn itchy and uncomfortable. I'm trying to force myself to frog it and soften up the yarn, so I can actually enjoy it.

I'm thinking I might make it into either Honka or one of these because I think if it's paired with black it'll tone down the colour somewhat, and make it into something I will wear.

As soon as my gran found out I was knitting again, she gave me all her old yarn and needles, as well as some needles that belonged to her grandmother. There wasn't much yarn left, but it's all very appreciated!

And that is how I got started knitting. I always like to know how people got started so share your stories!

For more K posts, check out here