Knit Knot or Carpe Crochet

I’ve been told I spin a good yarn, but the yarns I spin don’t involve sheep or llamas or goats. O.K., there is one about a goat, but that’s a tale for another day.

I took up the hooked needle two years ago when I failed to find a warm cap that wasn’t colored like a child’s first poop after eating crayons or fringed with more tassles than a burlesque dancer’s bodice.  I wanted a solid light color and no decorations, something that seemed hard to find at the time.

With needle in hand, yarn in a ball and the vast vista of the internet before me, I dove into Youtube.  “Oh my god, it’s full of yarn!” (a little 2001 a Space Odyessy for you there…).  The shear (pun) number of knitters and crochetists was staggering.  Where to begin?  Do I go with the teenaged woman who was bursting with excitement but seemed to be just starting out or should I try to learn from the lady with the soothing voice and the hands that spoke of decades of experience.  Maybe the  ThreadBanger chick or what about Expert Village.

After shaking off my momentary overload induced stupor, I chose my muse and began.  Seemed simple enough…  Oi!  But after replaying the videos over and over, I started to get the hang of it.  Fat fumble fingers or not, a chain was forming.  Oh Yeah, this isn’t all that bad… again with the Oi!

Doggedly I returned to the videos, week after week until I started seeing yarn in my sleep.  But it was getting better, no longer did the yarn cinch up tight on the needle making it impossible to slip over the hook and no more was I forced to strip whole lengths of crochet to return to the place of a missed a stitch.  Slowly at first, and with confidence bringing speed to dumb fingers, a hat was forming.

There were misstarts and abortions of design to be sure.  The earliest hat would have made a great yarmukle for a jewish chihuahua, and one of the following attempts would have kept Dan Ackroy’s Beldar Conehead comfortable.  But I was crochetting and I was making progress!

It took me the better part of a month to finally make a decent cap, one that I felt would serve my needs.  And then I was hooked (HA!).  I started making hats for family members.  From Ghillieman’s wee cap to my sister’s hat and scarf combo, it was amazing how it good it felt to be able to put clothes on people from my own hands.  I’m no expert by any stretch, I still screw up and have to undo days worth of work sometimes, but with every stitch I make, I grow in this skill.

You should never hesitate to apply yourself to a new skill or develop a talent.  One should endeavor to always learn, always improve oneself, when we stop learning, we start dying.  I may be old, but I’m not ready to cash in my chips just yet.