Like any knitter, the first thing to learn is how to cast on. Then I learned how to do the basic knit stitch which then turned into how to do garter stitch. It quickly turned into how to unpick or "tink" and then how to pick up a dropped stitch. Then it was how to purl and therefore stockinette. Scarves ensued. Generic, acrylic scarves.
Soon that wasn't enough. Squares and long rectangles aren't particularly satisfying for very long, which meant I had to learn how to increase and decrease, which by it's nature meant I had to figure how on earth to read knitting instructions. It also led to the discovery of the wealth of YouTube videos on knitting techniques.
Things started coming together. I found out about other tools besides plain Wal-mart knitting needles. There were beautiful glossy wooden needles made of pressed birch and dyed a rainbow of colors. I found fun little stitch markers and bought some without realizing how much I would depend on them later. I was later gifted two sets that I use at some point on almost every project. Swatch guage, tape measures and other bits and pieces started to gather and I decided I needed some storage for all of this stuff. Pouches, holders, cases and then something to hold them all. And what was this strange contraption called a circular needle? The collection grew piece by piece, matching the speed of this new addiction.
And then came the Yarn Snobbery. As I learned new stitches and techniques, and started to make sense of the glut of patterns on that delicious Ravelry site, I wanted better yarn to reflect my growing skills. Wal-mart acrylic no longer did it for me. I had found real wool. I quickly realized that there is a misconception surrounding wool in that most people (myself included) were under the impression that it was itchy and nasty stuff, used for stiff, uncomfortable garments.
I was wrong.
It grew into quite the monster as I walked around proper yarn stores and petted all the wonderful new fibers - superwash wool, silk blends, alpaca, merino, milk fiber...MILK fiber? This was a whole new world for me and I never went back. I now have a stash of largely abandoned yarns that I have little interest in doing anything with as they are not up to par for me anymore, and an ever-growing stash of amazing yarns that are just calling out to be knit into something fabulous.
What got me thinking of all this? I have recently started buying patterns. For me, anyway, that took some time. I didn't have the confidence in my knitting ability to spend money on patterns. I wasn't sure I would be able to complete them or even understand what they were asking me to do. I didn't know if I would be able to make them look nice enough or that the finished product would be wearable enough. I relied on the seemingly endless supply of free patterns on the aforementioned Ravelry. But then I started seeing patterns that I really liked that cost something. Maybe on Instagram, maybe on Pinterest. I wanted to make these patterns and I could just picture them in a yarn that I had in my stash. I bought one and found that it was something that I could do so I bought another. And another. And then I realized that I was doing this because I had finally found the confidence in my knitting skills that I knew I could tackle these patterns and they wouldn't be a waste of money. If there was a technique I wasn't sure of, I knew I could figure it out or find it on YouTube.
And it made me smile. What a long way from that very first messy cast on.
