Knitting with Nathan
So my knitting has taken an immediate detour… I started working on a hat for myself (Eco Alpaca's Charcoal Grey undyed baby alpaca) and it's going well, but Nathan, and Christmas, have side-tracked me.
On the way out of Twist a week ago, Nathan (our 9-year-old) saw some bright orange yarn… orange and blue are his school colors (their mascot is a tiger), and he wanted to make a scarf for a teacher.
So last Saturday, we dropped by Twist to knit and I bought him a couple skeins of Cascade wool yarn in bright orange and a darkish blue. Borrowed the round "hat" weaving looms out of the library and Mona, one of the Twist regulars, taught him how to knit on the loom. We abandoned that little bit of work and left the looms behind, and Sunday I bought a set of "long" ("double-rake") looms at Michael's, since he wanted to knit a scarf, and the Knifty Knitter double-rakes are set to a smaller gauge than the round "hat" looms, which is more appropriate for the worsted weight yarn he picked. I also ordered the Knitting Loom Primer from Amazon Sunday afternoon, and thanks to Amazon Prime's two-day shipping and the book shipping from the Oklahoma warehouse, it arrived yesterday.
So when I got home from work yesterday, Nathan had the book out and had started the scarf by himself. He wasn't far in and was having trouble with getting the wrapping right, so I helped him set it straight and he knit three rows before deciding to play a board game. But he enjoyed it, and likes how quickly it goes, and he's making big plans to make all kinds of things and to learn to knit on needles. I'm just hoping he finishes this project.
While we played the board game, I started a hat with the other skein of yarn that matches his scarf. There are a lot of neat patterns and techniques in the book (dang, you can purl, increase/decrease, cable knit and even do Fair Isle patterns… the makers of knitting looms are under-marketing them) and I figured it was a good idea to get ahead of Nathan a bit, so I could help him when he tried something more advanced and had trouble. And he's more likely to finish his work if he sees me finishing something similar. So I'm making a hat, and I've got another small Christmas project I want to knock out, so my own hat is on-hold for awhile. Which is cool.
Knitting again
Oh, you didn't know I knit before? Heh.
So a few years ago (I'm unclear on the time, I want to say "a couple," but thinking about it, it's more like three or four), I decided to try knitting. I like practical hobbies, and knitting is inexpensive and very portable. So I practiced a bit, knit one chunky scarf for my son, got busy and put it in a box to await the matching hat.
But "busy" wasn't the full reason I stopped. A big part of it was the thing that makes people wonder why I even started: I'm a guy. And as this was about the point I realized that I'm looking for social hobbies, I found a local knitting circle. And, as expected (here on the edge of the Bible belt, at least), they were all women. I was a little uncomfortable being the only guy in a group full of women. They were welcoming, none of them ever looked at me funny, but it was awkward, 'cause I'm not "just one of the girls," but conversation carried on as if I were. Not that I'm a prude or anything, but I just don't relate to conversation about boobs and periods and how men never do anything around the house. (And, lady, your boobs look just fine in that sweater. I'm not seeing anything to complain about.)
A couple years ago, a nifty yarn shop (Twist) opened up near my house in the Delano neighborhood, and just going in and looking at all the pretty yarn (the wife gave me an excuse to go) made me want to knit again. But that wasn't enough… still that "only guy" problem telling me "you won't stick with it."
Recently, I discovered there was another guy hanging out at Twist, and through the net I discovered we had a lot of common interests. So I decided to make the trek to Twist and meet him, and I've taken the craft back up. And I just discovered the "eclectic guy" I know from church also knits at Twist. So, three guys knitting at Twist… it must be a movement!
The first order of business was to dig out that scarf… I'd finished all but the fringe, so I added the fringe and gave it to my son just as the weather turned rather cold. He's named it "rainbow", and I'll post pictures soon.
Right now, I'm practicing again, getting ready to knit a hat. My first work with purling and on circular needles, the practice started out a little awkward. But I think I've practiced enough, so I bit the bullet and cast on some sweet baby alpaca yarn and start the real hat at last night's Stitch'n'Bitch at Twist. It went a lot smoother than the practice work I was doing, too. And there wasn't any bitching about men who don't do anything around the house.