I think I am really ready to give this a whirl!
I grabbed some books from the library, picked up a “how to knit” book from my favourite local book store, and told my mom to get ready for a lot of questions! The funny part about that is that there is a 21 hour time difference between the two of us. Sometimes those burning questions have to wait a few hours, and sometimes I forget about the time difference and send her a trivial text about knitting at 4 am New Zealand time. I also sat down and took stock of what knitting supplies were in the house. I found a few pairs of really big needles my daughters used when they were little, and a really long pair of super skinny ones. First question for mom, “What size of knitting needle should I start with?”, followed by, “Why type of knitting needle do you like to use?”. She suggested I find a pair of 8s. What does that even mean?? Off to google I went.
Just to keep you on your toes, knitting needles can have a metric size, a US size, and a UK size, and of course they also come in different lengths, shapes, and can be made out of different materials. After practicing with the long skinny ones I already had (turns out they are 4mm), I went with my mom’s recommendation and picked up a pair of 8mm bamboo needles. I went with bamboo as I felt it was the most ethically sound choice, and I love the feel of them.
Next up, some yarn. While I did have some in the house, I knew it wasn’t the right type for learning basic stitch patterns. Some was too thick, some was bumpy, and the other one I had was way too slippery. I try to stay away from big box stores and support local small businesses as much as possible, and lucky for me, there are some lovely knit shops in town. Boutique de Laine is a small shop close to home and the lovely woman there was able to help me find everything I was looking for.
The plan for this week is to work through the basic stitches that are shown in the books I have collected, and see if I can make them look like the pictures! I am also going to set up a time to interview my friend Kate who loves to knit and also happens to be in my PDPP cohort. We might even plan a covid compliant knit night!
My mom keeps telling me it will get easier with time, so here’s to hoping she is right!
Photo by Nick Casale on Unsplash
Knitting Books by Leah Mathewson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
