Sunday, February 21, 2010

Winter Keeps Stringing us Along....

My friend Janell and I decided we needed to find a way to while away the lingering winter hours, as long as it appears winter is going to last....well....forever.
We ain't bucklin' to no weather blues, not on your life. We decided we needed a project and we both wanted to learn to knit.

We spent Saturday with a lovely group of knitting enthusiasts. Their promise (and challenge) was to send us home with a knitted washcloth created by our own hands.
Sounds easy enough, doesn't it??? Ohhhhhhh you non-knitters, trust me, this is no easy task. You can lead a girl to needles and a ball of yarn but it doesn't mean she'll spontaneously know how to knit. Ohhhh man, I am here to tell you it's not as easy as it looks.

The fun part is buying needles and choosing yarn. The colors inspired us with all kinds of ideas for knitted projects. Visions of sweaters and caps and blankets danced in our heads.


Now we learn.
Not bad for a beginner, although it's a bit of a twisted start.


All the while eyeing a finished project,
knowing by the end of the day we should be looking at something
sort of like this. It's a knitted washcloth.


Pretty colors, Deb......but the skilled knitter can tell you something isn't quite right here.


I don't care. It's pretty and I made it.
I shall call it "BOOKMARK".

Janell, a much younger student than myself and infinitely clearer of mind,
picks up on the stitches very quickly. Clearly she is going to be a knitting prodigy with blue-ribbon sweaters hanging at the State Fair later this summer.


See what I mean? Her knitting is uniform and lovely.
Even her little book-marky thing is straight and sensible.
Like a perfectly appointed half-a-doily that will sit beneath a fine and beautiful plant.


Despite an absence of natural knitting ability I intend to persevere and will be practicing on this washcloth/coaster as long as it takes. Straighter lines and looser knit is my goal.


I shall call it "Barbie Blanket" so someday my little granddaughter can say to her little girl, "Oh, that's really old. Your Grandma Debbie made that for me when I was your age." At the rate I am presently knitting, I best get busy or I'll be giving it to her for her high school graduation.



2 comments:

Turtles In Northern Florida said...

Hahaha. Let me tell you, I make ALL our washcloths.Lol. To date I have yet to make a square one! They all come out very odd looking but they are the best. So I keep trudging along in my bad knitting hoping someday to see something some what square.Lol

Unknown said...

Knowing someone who is such a wizard with a needle has off-center knitting makes me feel MUCH better. Thank you thank you!!! I presented the "project" to my granddaughter last weekend, it is now a rug in Barbie's 3-story dream house. And I bought more yarn!!!