I'm knitting...I think

I ran across this blog post last week, about her recent knitting projects and her process of learning to knit and was isnpired to give it another go. I went back and forth with this idea throughout the weekend and come Monday I had wrestled the "you can't do it" demons into submissions and decided to cast on again.

Angela at Fussy cut said she was a crocheter too, so that made me think that maybe I could learn too.
I learned to crochet about three years ago and was immediately hooked. I loved the versatility and the soothing nature of working with yarn. I made blankets, scarves, bags, sweaters, hats and anything else I could get a pattern for. This love of crocheting lead to my love of sewing in a round about way.

I still love to crochet, but I always found myself admiring the look of knit projects. Although there are some beautiful crochet stitches, for apparel especially, knitted items can be exquisite.



I have long admired the look of the heringbone stitch...I mean look at it

I longed to learn to knit but was repeatedly bombarded with the "if you learn to crochet first, you'll never learn to knit" and "knitting is much more difficult to learn that crochet". So I belived it, I would never be able to knit and that was that.

This winter I remember seeing a Pin for this gorgeous cowl, and being sad I couldn't do it.







So, I gave it a shot for a couple of days and although I did learn how to cast on, knit and purl it was tedious and it just felt awkward. I was able to complete the stitches but not in any comfortable fashion. It was tedious and ugly.  I tried for a couple of days and then let those "you can't do it" demons get to me and I crocheted something instead.


Then, I ran across Angela's post. She said she was a crocheter and learned to knit, her stuff was gorgeous AND she said she enjoyed it? WHAT?! I wanted it to be true but, was sure she was some crafty genius and it would just not apply to me. It simply couldn't be true.

So, I kept reading. Contential knitting? I was intrigued. I followed her links to http://www.knittinghelp.com/ and watched the tutorials contential knitting. Maybe I COULD do this. I spent Monday absorbing all that I could on the internet...Thank goodness for youtube. Tuesday I spent working on knitting and purling. Wednesday I figured out how to bind off and practiced the seed stitch. So, I was convinced I wanted to try and put this all together and start my first official project.


So, I set off for JoAnn's and purchased my very own circular needles and a skein of Bernat's Chunky roving yarn. Then I realized that I had no idea how to use them. So, another reference to http://www.knittinghelp.com/ and I cast on the circular needles.

So I've been rocking it off and on all day. It's far from perfect and doesn't even begin to look as polished as my inspiration but that 's ok. I'm still learning and I am feeling like maybe I CAN do this. It's amazing what you can learn from the internet. I do hope that I can keep improving and maybe really learn something I had written off as impossible :)