Instead of sitting around watching Netflix and baking until there is nothing left in the pantry, I thought right now is a pretty good opportunity to give knitting a go, ya know to get myself ready for the colder seasons coming.
So for materials, all I used was:
● Knitting needles, which were 5mm
● Yarns of wool, I had 4 on hand
Since I knew my mum used to knit, having made beanies and making scarves for my sister and I when we were younger, I thought I would ask her to show me before venturing off to YouTube. Which luckily enough, she agreed!
So one afternoon, I sat down with my mum, with some movie playing on the tv in the lounge room. We decided that a scarf was the easiest thing to try first and I picked out this warm mustard colour wool. My mother, who goes by Lyn, first showed me how to do the starting stitches, which are your starting foundation for the scarf. We went for 25 stitches across, because I wanted a chunky, oversized look to the scarf which is also why I picked out a pretty thick wool anyway.
I will not lie, I did have some difficulties wrapping my head around the starting stitches, I was constantly going through the wrong side which of course was frustrating, but I kept reminding myself that this is something to help me pass the time and get my mind off things.
We went with a simple purl stitch, which is basically the same as the starting stitch, but made more sense in my mind.
With having to thread your right handed needle through the front of the stitch and create a cross with the needles, warp the yarn around and through the middle of the crossed needles and then you just guide the right needle down to the stitch and thread the tip through and drag the stitch off the left needle!
(Which I’m sorry if this makes no such sense in your mind! But don’t worry I have some links to some useful videos below!
At one point my mum had to shadow me, which at first was a bit of a laugh, but after the giggles passed I will admit it did help to have her actually guide me.
So my advice here is if someone in your household knows how to knit, sit down and have a little knitting sesh. But of course if you don’t, here are some videos and books that I found were pretty informative and didn’t make you feel overwhelmed and defeated:
I will admit that the first two days consisted of me with full focus on making sure I was doing it the right way, like I was totally over analysing it. And my hands were aching and cramping up, which no one had warned me about. My first night of knitting, I sat on the couch with Glee playing in the background, I think I was nonstop knitting for 3 hours.
After a week I’m going pretty solid, it’s like second nature for me now and I’m actually genuinely enjoying it. And my hands are now used to the pain, I guess!
I have claimed a spot on the couch, closets to the window and lamp because you’ve always gotta see what you’re doing. And at times I’ve had my sister complain about the lamp being on, while Vampire Diaries is playing! As you can see, we are taking this quarantine time to rewatch some tv show classics we used to watch in high school.
Now tada! This is the final piece!
I know the look and finish off the scarf isn’t the greatest. But considering it is my first time ever knitting, I’m happy with it and the experience of it all.
I have already decided on my next knitting project which is a beanie, like how ambitious of me and thank God for my mum! I do think I’ll come back and create another scarf because who doesn’t love a pop of colour around their neck!