And So I Learned To Knit

Mock me if you want.  I really couldn't care less.  But yes, the title is true:  I learned to knit.  Recently.  As in, last Thursday night.

It's really not as hard as people make it out to be.  But then, I have worked with my hands for a very long time, and crafting things comes fairly easily to me.  Almost second nature.  I get it from BOTH of my parents.  They are very crafty people.

And they're really cool, too.

Some of the things I have made are the leg lamp from A Christmas Story, a 12" tall replica of the mannequin that stands in the window of the candy shop on Main Street USA (in the Magic Kingdom) complete with the candy wrapper Victorian-style dress, blankets, wooden laundry hampers, cakes, and the list goes on and on and on.

It truly is my parents' fault.  If they weren't so creative and crafty, I probably would be more like The Editor.  Very little creative bones in her body.

So, why did I learn to knit?  Quite simply:  because no one else would do what it was I was wanting.  Well, not without charging me an arm, a leg, and my first born.

You see, I've been a fan of Doctor Who for a very long time.  While my favorite Doctor is now David Tennant, for many, many years it was Tom Baker.  And Tom as known for his scarf.

A 16 foot long monstrosity of pure cool.

And I want one.

I have wanted one for a great many years.

But no one would make me one.

I mean, it's only sixteen feet long.  How hard could it possibly be?

So, after finally just giving up on it, I decided to learn.  I contacted a friend of mine from church, who put me in touch with another friend of mine (also from church), who put me in touch with, coincidentally, someone else from church (I didn't know her), and scheduled a time for me to run out to her house and learn how to knit.  In a matter of about twenty minutes, I was off and running.

Granted, I still don't know a whole lot about what I'm doing, but that's OK.  I now know how to cast on (via a terrific video I found on YouTube), as well as a "garter stitch" (still don't know what that means) via the lady from church.  There's also a "pearl stitch" but I have no idea what that means.  There's a few others, too, but holy crap.  All I want to know right now is how to do the Garter, because that's what you use for a Doctor Who scarf.

I've knitted a hat several times now.  I say "several times" because I have four children who like to see what Daddy's doing while Daddy isn't paying close attention.  I have had to start this thing over so many times that  Casting On is now not a big deal at all.

But I have absolutely no clue how to Cast Off.  So this should be a real trip.

Anyway, since I'm using a circular needle (basically, two needles that their ends are joined by this long thin plastic wire, and as I knit, it just keeps going around and around and around), and I've got to teach myself how to use two long regular needles so I can create a Doctor Who scarf.

On the upside of learning on this needle, apparently, this is the one that you use to make Harry Potter scarves.  And since I have four children, and there are four Houses, guess what they're going to get this Christmas?  They'll be PERFECT for when we go to the Harry Potter thing at Universal Studios in December.

Also--and I just recently found this out, too--it's not uncommon for a man to learn how to knit.  There are even Men's Knitting Groups here.  Kinda creepy, I also thought at first, but they are really nice guys.  Most are married, and they all seemed to get into it for the same reasons I did:  we wanted something and no one would do it for us.  So, we learned and started doing it ourselves.

It's also a great way to keep your hands doing something.  I fidget A LOT, so this gives me something productive to do while I'm sitting there, staring at the television after my children have gone to bed.  Yes, I do have to pay attention to what I'm doing (I'm not that good yet), but most of the shows that I watch, I usually just listen to anyway. 

Except for Doctor Who.