The Birth of a Knitting Gamer

I'm so very proud of my friend Valerie for being a determined, surprisingly skilled brand-new knitting gamer. She asked me to teach her last week, and I was won over by flattery (N.B. - Flattery works wonders, all of you who want someone to teach you to knit! And cookies. Lots of cookies.). I could tell she was going to be bitten by the bug pretty hard, and that she's going to turn into a knitter of formidable talent. We've talked about my knitting before, and it was fairly clear that she's a crafty girl at heart, and furthermore, previous attempts at crochet had been met with confusion. Normally, bi-craftitude is fine with me, but this crochet confusion reminded me of others I've known who instinctively find one of the two really easy and the other more difficult. Unlike other times I've taught someone, this time I'm really going to start a fire.

Lesson one last week had both of us blinking up at the clock on my wall, struggling to understand where the last two hours went. Yes, my friends, it was that good. We went to one of my favorite local yarn stores and petted skeins while I gave her a quick overview of fibers, their uses, and how knitters tend to feel about them. Then we tore ourselves away from the yarn because we had caught the store briefly closed before an evening class...so sad it was! Michael's was at least able to provide acceptable beginner gear, so we purchased some (totally underrated) Paton's Classic Wool and a pair of US7 straights. I discovered that a dice bag...a simple rectangle of stockinette with garter ends, seamed up the sides...makes an excellent first project for the noob knitting gamer. Longtail cast on and the knit stitch were promptly taught, and our subject assimilated the skill like a born knitter. Purl required a little thought at first, but within a row or two she was turning out stunningly even stockinette. Mama was so proud!

Lesson two involved Baby's First Knitting in Public when she joined me for my knitting group this week. She made only minimal errors in a commendable six inches of stockinette without me, so we covered how to tink and, eventually, to great triumph, how to bind off and do a mattress stitch seam. There is no greater "high" for a baby knitter than to (1) finish a project and (2) be able to flash your very first FO around in front of a group of six knitters who all understand just how amazing that is. Further reinforcement came from her SO, who has already requested a dice bag of his own. When she confessed to me that, upon entering Michaels for a different purpose, she found herself with yarn in hand, it was a good feeling. When she went on to say that the only reason she didn't buy the yarn was that she couldn't find the knitting needle aisle, it was music to my ears. Baby's first brush with the urge to stash AND her first bout of startitis at the same time...in the first week? The force is strong with this one :).