In the beginning...

Although I learned the basic knit and purl from my mother when I was a child, I would describe myself as a self-taught knitter. My mom was a sewer, not a real knitter, so I spent most of my early years learning to sew instead. My early knitting included tiny scarves for Barbie--that was about the extent.

My next foray into knitting came when I was in my mid-twenties. I took a year off work to hitchhike around Australia and New Zealand and ended up working briefly on a sheep farm. I mostly put up fences and herded sheep, probably doing more harm than good when it came right down to it. The husband and wife were wonderful, however, and at night, the woman (of course I can't remember her name off the top of my head) taught me how to spin wool. I spun enough to knit a large scarf for my mother (garter stitch, because that was all I knew how to do). It was a lovely dark wool, and now that my mother is gone, I have the scarf back at our house in the States. This summer when we return, I may frog it and try to make something more interesting.

Before I left New Zealand, I bought some wool and a pattern and tried probably twenty times to knit that vest, but could never get it to work. I still have the wool. I've carried it to two of the countries I've lived in and and will probably carry it to a third. I have since tried the pattern again and now realize there's an error. I WILL be successful on my next attempt!

After the New Zealand trip, I did not knit again for almost twenty years. My mother had passed away and less than two years later my father was on his deathbed. I could not concentrate on reading anything as I sat for hours by his bed, so I decided to try to knit something. I bought some cheap Lion Brand yarn and some big needles and started knitting scarves. I found knitting relaxing and therapeutic. And as I watched my father slowly die, I produced something. That somehow seemed comforting.

Not long after that, the Stitch 'n Bitch phenomenon began. I wasn't in the States to really be a part of it, but I bought the book and enjoyed the humor and fun that it brought to knitting -- I was hooked. I decided with each new pattern I picked I would learn one new skill. And that's where I am today. Still not greatly skilled but having fun and learning along the way.