Knitted beginnings

Mom and I were talking this morning, reminiscing over my beginnings as a knitter. When I was about 4 years old, mom taught me to knit. I started down that slippery slope at a very young age I know but I got the hang of it. Every doll I owned had a scarf, as did every flat surface in my bedroom. My dolls all had blankets as well.

A neighborhood friend of mom's also wanted to learn to knit but she insisted on learning to knit socks on four needles. None of the "basics" for her! So one day Lil comes in with a tangle of yarn going in different direction with newly invented stitches -- her sock. She asks mom what was going wrong. I was sitting in the rocking chair in front of the TV, watching Romper Room and knitting without looking at what was on the needles. Lil threw down her work and said "Oh, just forget it!"

I never went any further with knitting and finally stopped altogether when I was in middle school.

Years went by and one day while living in New York I was watching an old Cary Grant movie -- Mr. Lucky. Yep, the one where Cary Grant knits. I felt that urge once again. The next time I went to visit mom I asked if she would give me a refresher course and also teach me to read a pattern. She did.

Back home I went. I needed to find a yarn shop IMMEDIATELY! And find a pattern for a sweater to knit for my fiance. I wanted to knit him an Aran sweater for Christmas. Next time visiting mom I showed her what I got and asked if she would help me put it together once knitted. She said sure.

I took it back when finished and that's when she told me she never expected me to finish it because it was a very difficult pattern. It was at that point I decided never to be afraid of a project just because I had never done it before.

Now I have become a "collector of techniques." I love learning different ways of casting on and off, cuff down, toe up, different heels, magic loop, English, Continental, combined, etc., etc.

I asked mom this morning if she will once again teach me her cast on. She and I don't do the same cast on (weird!) and I want to learn her's. Just like old times.