Knit One, Purl Never

I am convinced that there is a gene that make one crafty. I know this because I was born without one. I don't know how it happened - I come from crafty stock. My maternal grandmother was very good a needlepoint. She was so talented, in fact, that I have several of her pieces framed in my house now. My mother was also crafty. She wasn't as persistent in her practice as my grandmother, but my mom could make beautiful needlepoints and crochet afghans if she wanted to do it. You guessed it - I have several of her pillow and an afghan at my house.

I started off OK. When I was a kid, I used to love to needlepoint. I had several of the kid's kits with the huge plastic needle. I loved them and would finish one after another. I even did latch hook rugs. Soon, other things took precedent and I stopped my crafts.

Around the time of college, I noticed the girls around me were pretty talented. Everyone seems to be doing cross stitch. I figure I could pick it up easily. I bought a kit at Michael's and started my little project. I even got a basic kit - the pattern was pre-printed on the cloth. All I had to do was follow the color chart and I would have a cute little picture of bears in a bath tub. Well, I got about halfway through it and never touched it again.

So, a few years after that debacle, I thought maybe the project was just not important enough to me. I decided I wanted to cross stitch a Christmas stocking for my then boyfriend. After all, my grandmother had needlepointed stockings for each of her 3 granddaughters and made stockings for 7 other members of the family. I never even opened the kit bag.

I thought maybe the project was just too big. So, back to Michael's I went to buy a small ornament to cross stitch. I sold that kit at a garage sale about 2 years ago - unopened, of course.

Maybe I needed something other than a cross stitch. I bought a cute little box for Halloween when you just sew the bead on the top of the box to make a ghost. Two rows done. I think I still have it in a closet somewhere.

Perhaps I needed to move out of needlecrafts. I tried jewelry making. I have made all sort of necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and even two rings. They are all in my jewelry box, but will likely never see the light of day. It looks as if a small child with poor motor skills made them. The jewelry making supplies were slowly sold off in the garage sales. I also painted. I finished two of the four class projects and they are not so bad. Of course, the final project was never completed and was thrown in the garbage can at the conclusion of class.

Despite knowing all of this information about myself, I agreed to take a knitting class with my friend a few years ago. Lisa is a craft person. I found out after we started class that she was accomplished as a crochet crafter, but wanted to learn knitting. It took me all 6 weeks to do a straight stitch scarf for myself. Lisa had made a scarf with tassels for herself, then knitted a multi color scarf for her husband. She was planning her next project, a knitted top, by the end of class. I didn't even learn to purl.


Well, I decided to pick up the knitting needles again about 6 weeks ago despite my past history. I still had the yarn that my husband picked out for a scarf I said I would knit for him. So, I called on my good friend Michelle, who is a master crafter, to help me remember how to knit. She invited me to a knitting group and I was off to a promising start. I told myself that I would work on the scarf at least a little each day, even if it was just two rows. I have picked it up about 3 times since then. The thing is that I can't knit while watching TV. I have to focus 100% of my attention on the knitting. Since I am not used to doing it, it also makes my fingers hurt (I think I hold the yarn too tight - I don't know). After years of waiting, hubby's scarf is about 6 inches long.

Perhaps this blog will inspire me to find my crafty side so I can finish the scarf. Or perhaps it will sit in the bag for another 6 or so years until I try again.