My sweater? Let’s just say . . . same old same old . . . yada yada yada. It progresses. (Enough said.)
To spare us all the tedium of another oversized-black-sweater update . . .
Tell me this:
Who taught you to knit? And how old were you when you first learned?
I’d love to hear your knitting “origin” stories! (They will entertain me as I seam!)
(As for me, my mom taught me to knit. And I was 8. I became competent quickly, but thought it was an awfully slow way to create a piece of fabric. I turned to sewing instead.)
My mom taught me to knit when I was 12. I consider it one of her greatest legacies. Even though it never really “took” until I was in my fifties. Luckily she was still alive to reap the reward of seeing my enthusiasm.
My mom taught me how to knit, crochet, sew and embroider. But you know, I can’t remember how old I was. It just seems like I have always known. I must have been really young. I do remember watching her crochet doilies. Maybe I learned by osmosis!
I was 10 and my grandmother taught me. I also thought it was slow and tedious and I had lots of holes (accidental yos) in the red acrylic square I was knitting. She also taught me how to crochet and do hairpin lace. I crocheted lots of scarves and shawls for Barbies but I didn’t like how crochet looked except for afghans. I eventually tried to knit a sweater for a boyfriend in college. The relationship suffered the curse of the boyfriend sweater, but when Ryan was born I thought he couldn’t exactly break up with me so I started knitting baby sweaters. Some of them he even wore (once). I kept knitting baby sweaters because I could actually finish them, so Justin also has several that he never wore. Once the boys were old enough to say they didn’t want any more sweaters, I branched out and started knitting for myself. So while it’s not continuous, I’ve been knitting for 57 years.
I am a self-taught knitter. 8 year old Rachel saw a scarf with eyelash yarn and wanted it badly (it was $150 and not in the budget…) but I saw the yarn at Meijer’s … yes, the exact yarn… so I bought it, some straight needles and a “learn how to knit book” … except no where did anyone say that eyelash yarn is probably not the best idea for a “first project” But I did eventually get it finished… and Rachel wore it all of two times. However, knitting intrigued me enough to keep going! (so I have been knitting for roughly 27 years!)
Fun question! My grandma taught me when I was 9. Red Heart yarn, in pink. I only saw her in the summertime, and no one who lived close to me was a knitter, so every year til I was 14 I started over on the same. pink. scarf. While I crocheted a few blankets in college, I didn’t pick up knitting needles again until I was 27. It really was like riding a bike. I’ve always been grateful that my brain learned the skill as a child, because it made it so much easier to relearn as a young adult. (So I made sure all three of my kids learned to knit and ski when they were in single digits — just in case they wanted to do either as they grew older!)
Happy seaming. Bet you’ll be thrilled to put that sweater ON!!
My fourth grade teacher, whose name was Eleanor Rigby (at least 4 years before the Beatle’s song), taught me to knit during recess. As a result of a car accident she had only one lung, so she did not do outdoor recess duty. I was recovering from strep w/ concern for possible rheumatic fever, so was not allowed outdoor recess for a time. So she taught me during indoor recess. The yarn was burn orange colored Red Heart from the Five & Dime store. The needles were chunky pink acrylic straight needles.
She also taught me to weave with yarn threaded through drinking straws.
After 4th grade, I continued on my own with Coats & Clarks to pamphlets. My Mom crocheted, but I could never see the point of that…didn’t like the fabric it created. (Rebellious maybe?)
My aunt taught me to knit at 9 or 10. My first project was a sweater! What was she thinking? I don’t recall her ever addressing gauge. As a result the sweater never fit. I honestly don’t know what became of it. I do wish I still had it if only for a good laugh!
My Grandma Oord taught me when I was about 10. I made what she called “footsocks” which were those pompom slippers (ribbed front, garter back) that many people made in the 60’s and 70’s. I also made a cardigan of sparkly white Sayelle yarn (from a pattern in the Sears learn to knit book). Which was a slog. So I didn’t knit again till I lost a job in my 20’s and needed something to accomplish. My good friend’s (and roommate at that time) mom was a knitter, so maybe that brought knitting to mind. I knit a vest of red Brown Sheep Yarn. I still have the Sayelle cardigan somewhere, though I’m not sure what became of that vest. It had a cable up the front – which began a long tradition of learning something new with most every project. My mom sewed. I think knitting was my way to individuate 😉
My mom taught me as a child but it didn’t take. I tried again in the late 1980s and it didn’t take (self taught). Tried a third time on a Super Bowl Sunday in 2004 with a lion brand scarf kit and it took!
My mom taught me when I was in first grade. She was learning to knit from a neighbor and, in turn, was teaching the neighbor how to sew. I don’t know why my mom never learned to knit from my grandmother… but, then, I wonder if she did & it didn’t take, because she took knitting classes again when she was in her 40s, too. (I think she liked the idea of knitting more than actually knitting.) Anyway, even though I didn’t knit again until a unit in Home Ec class in high school, it had definitely sunk in with me… it was like muscle memory! A few years later, changes in my life/living situation/loneliness (still in high school) had me finding comfort with needles & yarn again (my poor family suffering the GIGANTIC color blocked scarves & hats of Red Heart acrylic)! The changes/loneliness + knitting would be a refrain over several years until the early 2000s when the current run began — such a great time to be a knitter/fiber artist!
I learned to knit from my gramma and sew from my mom at age 6 – mostly because I kept taking their yarn and fabric to cut up and they decided I need to learn how to use those materials properly. I left off knitting in elementary school in favor of sewing but came back to it when we had our children so I could knit for them. My first adult sized sweater didn’t happen until after my trip to Shetland in 2017.
I learned from my aunt when I was about 7 or 8. After a family trip up to the Detroit area, I stayed with her and my uncle for another week, and she pulled out the straight needles and some orange acrylic and taught me the basics. After that, I became pretty much self-taught.
Fun question and fun to see everyone’s answers. My Mom taught me initially…I can’t remember how old I was. She also taught me embroidery and sewing. I knit a few scarves that grew into odd shapes and it just never “took.” After Colin was born I took a knitting class and knit him a couple of sweaters, then taught myself how to knit socks and now I just keep going and going!!
My college roommate taught me. She was left-handed and I am not, which was a second layer of difficulty, but we persevered and made matching sweaters. They really (sort of ) fit. No idea what happened to mine but since I live in central Texas now that fuzzy fluffy wool sweater would not get a lot of use today. Amazing how many of you learned from your mothers. My mom was a very gifted seamstress and also crocheted. So, of course, I was not interested in competing with her. And she loved that I knitted and she didn’t have to teach me!
I learned from a book when I was in my 20s. I can’t quite remember the driving wheel, but suspect it was disappointment over the quality of crochet for clothing fabric. One notable knitting fail was a cardigan I made for my father, in baby blue Red Heart acrylic: the sleeves were at least 8″ too long. After his death, while collecting his old clothing to donate, I found that sweater. It made me laugh rather than cry: we got a LOT of mileage out of that unfortunate sweater. (Which fit great, by the way. All except for the sleeves.)
Just a few weeks ago my mother appeared in a sweater I’d made her during the same era! I’d forgotten about it completely, until I saw it again. Pretty amazing. Now I wish I’d used better yarn! But it really wasn’t available in small town northern Michigan during that era. Today, we’ve an embarrassment of riches, no matter where we live.
My friend Lois taught me to knit back in 1999 or 2000. We were camping and I learned while sitting by the pond watching Hannah swim. I flung my knitting into the sand many times before I finally caught on! Side note, my Nana tried to teach me when I was about 7 or 8 but I just couldn’t get it. Turns out, she was showing me how to knit left handed (because I’m left handed) but the reality is that I actually knit right handed. Go figure!
My grandmother taught me when I was 8. We had a knitting project for Brownies to knit squares for afghans that would be made for a charity. I remember that it seemed to take forever to knit one square and it didn’t help that my hands would make the wool yarn sticky and that I knit very tightly. My grandmother was a patient teacher and after those boring squares I moved on to make some misshapen doll clothes. I also took up sewing and liked it because it was quicker. I went back to knitting when I was in college.
My grandmother taught me crochet but I don’t remember about knitting. I think I learned at the local girls club.
I learned from the wife of my father’s best friend, my “Aunt” Shirley. I thought everything she did was just the cat’s pajamas. I so wished MY mother was Aunt Shirley. (Some of you may remember when I wrote about her. Maybe I’ll write a post again someday, but not today. It has a weird twist I only learned when I was well into my adult years. LOL). Anyway, I was 8 and Aunt Shirley was a very patient teacher. At the time she was knitting a dress with 3 strands of worsted weight yarn. Can you imagine? I thought it was very chic ….. my 8 year old self was easily impressed apparently.
I was knitting a Red Heart scarf in Mexicali colors. Yes……it was squeaky, ugly, and very long since all I knew how to do was knit.
My Grandmother, “Grama,” taught me to knit when I was about 10. Although she loved us to pieces, she wasn’t the most patient teacher. At times, she take the knitting right out of my hands and knit through the row. I’d work with her at her house until I needed a break and then hop on my bicycle and go home. So I’ve been knitting for about 60 years although I didn’t knit steadily in high school and only in the summers during my college years. She also taught me how to sew in much the same fashion. Even though there were a few tears, I have always said, teaching me to knit and sew was a priceless gift.
I learned to knit out of a book when I was in high school. First a practice square (with many yo holes), then a headband (never wore it), then a pair of mittens (ditto). Then I knit a sweater for my mom. The only yarn in our small town was Red Heart, but Sears to the rescue! Real wool yarn. Amazingly, the sweater fit, and she wore it proudly. I made several sweaters in college, an Aran for myself (roommate, who was an accomplished knitter, took one look at the picture and said, “You’ll never make that!” So of course I did.), one for a boyfriend which suffered from the bf curse, happily before I had knit too far, and another for a subsequent boyfriend. No curse there, we broke up several years later. I learned crochet in my 20s, probably from a book. I made a couple summer tops from Knit-Cro-Sheen and an afghan. I didn’t knit much when I was working full time in my 20s and 30s, but jumped back in with both feet when I bought a gorgeous Colinette afghan kit in England in the late 90s. And I have been knitting constantly since then.
I believe my left handed Aunt tried to teach left handed me when I was 10 or so but I knit righty so…it never stuck. A friend asked me to take a class when I was around 45 and here we are 20 years later! And bonus…now I know you! 😉
A friend patiently taught me to knit and held my hand through the ribbing of a sweater. When it “clicked” I was off to the races and from there I taught myself all the other things (cables, etc.). I found that by reading a pattern stitch by stitch, inch by inch, I could make anything.