The Pink Shoe Diaries

on friday i left for my lunch break with one purpose in mind: to buy yarn.

every year around this time i get back into knitting. now, i am not very good, and i don't even think i have ever finished a scarf, but the action of knitting i find to be soothing and my fingers love to be busy so it's something to do.

so i walked into my local knit shop ("Puttin' On the Knitz"!) and as soon as I walked in was assailed with a loud "Good Afternooooon!" from an elderly gentleman seated at a central table, knitting away on a sweater.

I greeted him and after a brief conversation he knew that i was looking for yarn to make a scarf, and that i was not an avid knitter.

"Sit down here and do a few stitches on this sweater, I want to see your technique."

I was a little embarrassed since i have no technique at all. My "technique" is a bastardized version of something i attempted to teach myself 4 years ago from a $1.99 booklet I got at a craft store.

But I obliged him.

After two stitches, he stopped me "That is not knitting, I am not quite sure WHAT that is!". I told him that I had taught myself, and never really practiced enough to get good.

"Do you have a spare hour? I'm going to give you a lesson right now. You need it".

So for the next hours we went about the ins and outs of "English style" of knitting which most closely resembled what I had been doing anyway. We knitted, we chatted, and by the end of the hour I had finally "learned" hot to knit, and I left with a brand new set of needles and some gray Irish yarn.

I never even knew you could get needles that were attached but it makes it SO MUCH easier to knit (for me at least!). I was always having my work slide off the other end of the needle and this way that can never happen, and i can make a much wider scarf.

And on my downtime this weekend (of which there as a lot) i worked dilligently and by Sunday evening I had completed my scarf. Something which last year would have taken me at least a few weeks to even come close to finishing.

I'm not branching off of scarves quite yet, but I will be dabbling with fancy yarn this week. I have another lesson tomorrow during my lunch break. Which is good because I have pretty much forgotten how to "cast on" since last Friday.

have i talked enough about knitting, yet?

good.

(Oh, and for Marisa: the store is called Puttin' On the Knitz and it's on 1282 Washington Street in West Newton (617 989 8070). The owner (whose name escapes me) gives free knitting lessons during the day to induviduals, and at night he charges for group lessons. You should stop by/give him a call. He is really a nice guy (and loves knitting!))