I went up to the LYS yesterday evening since I was bored and just needed to get out for a bit. I’m looking for yarn for a cap my daughter is dying for which would be a quick “in the waiting room” project and since I will be waiting quite a bit for doctors in the near future, I decided to pick up the yarn and be ready.
I mutter to myself when trying to make a decision. It helps me mentally winnow out the stuff I don’t want and narrow down my choices. My problem, she wants the cap in lime green (her fav color) and the ONLY choices of that color in the store were either the wrong type of yarn or of a fibre that my skin does not like. Commence filibuster muttering.
A young woman happened to turn on the aisle where I was trying to decide the lesser of two evils and heard me going over the pros and cons. After I chose that evil, I walked over to the needles and other accoutrement that go with knitting, looking for some new stitch markers. As usual I am muttering about the dearth of choices for needles. I’ve had to order most of mine online. If I could crochet my choices would be endless. Anyhoo, I noticed, tucked behind a set of crochet hooks, a cable set. So I dig it out and begin looking at it.
Finally the young lady who had followed me over there asked me if she could ask me a few questions. I said yes she could ask but I couldn’t guarantee I would have any answers. She told me she’s a student at one of the colleges here and saw a sweater when she was home and found out it was knitted by hand and decided then and there she would learn to knit so she could knit that sweater. I told her that knitting a sweater was a very ambitious project and that she should start on something simple like an afghan square or small scarf first, to learn her stitches. I pointed out some books of simple patterns, yarns, etc. We must have chatted for half an hour. Then I find out she’s never even knit a stitch. WOW! Ambitious indeed.
So, I wrote down the URL for this place and told her of the videos and that knitting videos were all over YouTube. She asked if I could teach her, and I told her that would not be a good idea. She asked why, so I explained that there are different types of knitting and that somehow I seem to do the most frustrating kind. At that point I managed to find a “How To Knit” book that showed the Continental method and told her to buy that book, some cheap acrylic yarn, some cheap needles and (I figured a size 10 would be great to learn on, big and yet not Big Red Chief stupid big). I gave her my email and she said she would let me see her progress.
I hope she sticks to it and knits her sweater. I promised to be her own personal cheerleader as she works on her skill. It was exciting for me to meet a complete newbie and guide her into the beginning of a life long love affair I’ve had with the craft.