I am proud to note
A new knitter on the block
Niece Ellie knows how!
About a year ago I got a very long text message from my 14 year old niece, Ellie, asking me how to cast off her scarf. I laughed out loud at the prospect of “texting” back the instructions. Like most of my generation, I’m more comfortable and efficient with a phone conversation than hunting and pecking a text message on a phone. The letters on the phone are so small I can barely make them out!
Ellie taught herself to knit. . . back and forth for a very long time. . . but didn’t know how to stop. I helped.
Also, I just happened to draw her name for our Christmas exchange. Voila! I had the perfect gift! Knitting lessons!
Being a young city hipster, what do you suppose she wanted to knit for her first project? Wrist warmers, very long wrist warmers. Great! We knit a swatch, on which she purled for the first time. (a good knitter knows ribbing is required on wrist warmers) We measured her stitches and rows and decided how many stitches to cast on. Then I taught her to knit on two circulars. “Okay,” I said, “Call me when you want to start the thumb.”
She was on holiday vacation from school and had nothing but time. . . one week later she was ready to start the thumb gusset.
Now she knows how to increase (at least one way to increase). She knit the gusset during that night’s lesson and we put the thumb stitches on a piece of scrap yarn. “Okay,” I said, “Call me when you are done ribbing above the thumb”.
Well, back in school, she doesn’t have as much free time. It took three weeks to knit the 1 1/2 inches of 2/2 rib for the palm. Last night we knit the thumb. Unfortunately that was all we had time for, since her homework was calling. “What kind of homework” I asked. “Math, Biology, English, and History”, was the response. Oh how happy I am NOT to be in school and have nothing but time (ha ha) for knitting!
The results of Ellie’s knitting:
And a fuzzy picture of her gusset! (I can knit. . . but digital cameras tend to get the better of me. Sorry about the image quality)
Ellie, welcome to the fold!
Shawn