green noise

I can honestly say I’ve never been much of the crafty type. I’ve had my moments of artistic glory, but that’s been more along the lines of writing and visual arts. Things like scrapbooking and sewing, while I’ve always found really intriguing, have eluded me, though. I’ve never known how to get started, and my initial results were always poor enough so as to be thoroughly discouraging. It was the same story when I decided, many months ago, when I decided to learn how to knit.

In New York City, it’s not unusual to see people knitting on the subway. I’m commute via subway at least 3 hours a day during the week, so I see them all the time. And most of them are geek girls in their 20′s and 30′s – my peeps! I have to admit, knowing that knitting has become so popular with a younger set and is no longer relegated to mothball smelling grannies on their plastic covered armchairs, really spurred my desire to learn. So I bought a “teach yourself knitting” kit with two skeins of yarn, some needles, and a book. I studied the book for a while, then tried to replicate what I saw. I think I tried for about an hour before I decided that it was shit and I’d never learn. I put my knitting away and left it for a few months. I’m a poor sport when it comes to a learning curve.

Well, fast forward to about 2 weeks ago. I can’t recall exactly what it was that made me decide to try again, but I did, and with a bit more patience this time. I sat down with my needles, yarn, and book, and tried again, without success in even casting on. Instead of tossing it aside again, I decided that the problem was not that I’d never learn, but that I’d never learn from looking at pictures. It dawned on me how difficult it can be to learn a three dimensional, movement skill (such as knitting, dancing, Formula 1 racing) by looking at two dimensional illustrations and photographs. And this is when my digital obsession steps in.

YouTube, in this scenario, has been my salvation. A simple search for “how to knit” yielded a treasure trove of video tutorials. I could watch different methods from different people, and pause, rewind, and rewatch to my heart’s content. And within about 10 minutes, I had my first row cast on. A little more watching, trying, rewatching, and retrying, and I was actually knitting! Ain’t life grand?

So it’s been a couple of weeks now, and I’m nearing completion on a scarf I’m making for my niece. Is it beautiful and perfect? Not by a long shot. But 1. She’s only 15 months old, so I can pretty much guarantee that she won’t give a shit and 2. It’s a result. I’m learning the skill, and having a hell of a blast doing it. I’ve bought multiple needles in different sizes, and different yarns to work with, and I can actually see myself doing this as a long standing hobby. It’s relaxing, and the result of actually making something (Crafty? me? Whoda thunk it??) really makes me proud. I’m really looking forward to getting better at my new-found skill (and obsession, I think!) so I can make all kinds of lovely things. Grand things are ahead, from humble beginnings.