First Knitting Mojo

A friend asked me to teach her to knit a couple weeks ago and I, of course jumped at the chance. Always willing to spread the joy/obsession of knitting. I think we both did pretty well, she better than me actually, I'm not sure I was very clear but she was doing quite well by the end of three hours.

Well, three hours if you count the time it took at the craft store to pick out a ball of Lion Wool and some fuscsia Boye needles (how convenient that the fuscia ones were the size the label reccomended? good thing, we might have gotten them anyhow). At the store I tried to explain relation of needle and yarn size to gauge and what that meant in finished fabric, not sure that made sense to her either but being an avid collector of clothing, especially sweaters, I think she got it on some level.

We set ourselves up in my kitchen and I showed her how to make a slip knot, surprisingly difficult to master it seems, there was much discussion of a "big loop" and subsequent "baby loop" but eventually we had a breakthrough and moved on to casting on. She filled up her needle, pulled them off and did another practice needleful and then we moved on to the knit stitch . Had the typical issues with accidental yarn overs and mysterious extra stitches but eventually learned to remember to keep the yarn in back to knit and we were ready to start with new stitches to make the start of a scarf. I know, I know, boring and a bit tedious for a begining project but it's what she wanted to make. She had a few very nice looking rows when we realized it had been three hours and that she needed to go home. I sent her off with my copy of S 'n B for later when she inevitably forgot how to continue. Hopefully she'll look through it and be inspired to keep practicing and to make something beyond a garter stitch scarf.

We really had a good time during our lesson and it was a really good feeling that at least one friend saw how much fun I think knitting is and wanted to try it herself. I was proud of her for her great effort, I know she usually sticks to crafts that are much more intuitive. We both marveled a bit at how someone came up with this stuff in the first place, it boggles the mind.

I took a couple of pictures for the blog, feeling that First Knitting and the birth of a new knitter should be recorded for posterity and that they probably carry a bit of healthy Knitting Mojo of their own and might lend some of that to this blog and its readers. So here you are, some First Knitting on the needles of a New Knitter.