Cast On, Cast Off

I learned to knit, yes I did say knit, when I was a child. One of my mother’s friends taught me. I cannot remember who this was or how it all came about, but there it is. Some lady gave me some yarn and needles and taught me to knit. If only I could remember who that was I would search her out and thank her to the point of embarrassment. Okay, so maybe not that far, but I would love to thank her. So whoever you are, wherever, little Jenn Veillette says, “Thank you. So much!”

As of late, I have realized that there is a wonderfully wide world of yarn and knitting and all kinds of creativity of that sort out there. I do say as of late because it really just occurred to me. Truly. How stupid must I be that I never gave it much thought? I know I am not a dumb person, per se, but I really feel like one of the rounder crayons in the box over this one. Knitting was knitting and you made scarves. That was that. I knew how to do a simple knit stitch on the needles that I had, and you started and you knitted and you stopped and there you had it- a scarf. What else was there? Well, there is a lot more than that, my friends!

There are many occasions in my life where if I could, I would do almost anything it took to go back in time and walk right up to myself to just smack myself in the face if it would assist in my figuring out a few things just a tad faster than it actually took me. Over this, this is one of those things

A dear and very crafty friend of mine who crochets lovely, lovely things mentioned that she was going to sell her wares online (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6783596)
and that was my 60 watt moment; a revelation, sadly enough. A light flooded a dark, damp room in my mind, “I can make things! I can knit! Why haven’t I ever done that before?” Short of the odd knitted scarf here and there, why had it never occurred to me that booties, socks, finger puppets, hats and so on and so forth forever and ever amen, were literally at the ends of my pink aluminum needles? Now, I have learned since that spark of creativity hit that just because I can knit two, purl one, does not mean I will just automatically start churning out crazy creations worth actual money. I still, obviously, have much, much more to learn and I am working on a few things and challenging myself, but in the past few months I have made three scarves (I know, I know, more scarves, but I was practicing different stitches and patterns on something familiar first!) and a hat for my son which turned out to be a tad too big and I didn’t finish it properly so there were holes left at the top, but the point is, I did it! And I am going to keep on doing it.

Maybe I will put up some pictures when I start making impressive things, so stay tuned until then! Oh, and Ms. Knitting Lady who taught Little Jenn V. to become all she could be with her sticks, I would love to knit you a pretty little throw and kick my heels up and say, “Look what I can do!” a la Stewart.

So, if there are days when you don’t hear from me or see me online, don’t freak out. I am either with my kids and keeping them healthy, fed and clean, or I am on www.purlsoho.com (Again, props to Dana!) racking up a bill of yarn and tidbits for my husband to pay and getting my knit on.