How I learned to knit
No new pictures of what I've been knitting, so I thought I'd add a story instead.
I tried to learn to knit a couple times in middle school but it never really clicked.
Then after I graduated from high school, I spent a year as a foreign exchange student in Norway. There more people knit than don't, & KIP is very common. People knit on the bus, on the train, in class at school, while watching TV, while sitting around & chatting. I learned how to knit continental style, & with multiple colors. I learned knitting in the round. I learned how to read knitting patterns in Norwegian.
What I didn't learn was the English terms for things. Until I read the Yarn Harlot's first book, I had no idea that the standard Norwegian way of inserting sleeves is called "steeking". I hadn't even the sense to be nervous about doing it, because my Norwegian host mother was so matter-of-fact about sewing up the area & then cutting into the knitting.
Once the hot St. Louis summer is over, I'm thinking of getting this book. http://www.kidsknits.com/book147.html & getting back into Norwegian style knitting. I've actually made a sweater very similar to the one in the top left corner -- the black & white sweater with the boy holding the red ball of yarn.
Of course, if I make a sweater like this for one of my kids, the other two will want one too. Never mind that my husband keeps the house much too warm for anyone to even wear long sleeves in the winter, much less a wool sweater.
Maybe I'll just make myself a sweater & tell my kids I'll make them each one for a college graduation present... That should give me enough time, since my eldest is still in middle school. ;-)
I tried to learn to knit a couple times in middle school but it never really clicked.
Then after I graduated from high school, I spent a year as a foreign exchange student in Norway. There more people knit than don't, & KIP is very common. People knit on the bus, on the train, in class at school, while watching TV, while sitting around & chatting. I learned how to knit continental style, & with multiple colors. I learned knitting in the round. I learned how to read knitting patterns in Norwegian.
What I didn't learn was the English terms for things. Until I read the Yarn Harlot's first book, I had no idea that the standard Norwegian way of inserting sleeves is called "steeking". I hadn't even the sense to be nervous about doing it, because my Norwegian host mother was so matter-of-fact about sewing up the area & then cutting into the knitting.
Once the hot St. Louis summer is over, I'm thinking of getting this book. http://www.kidsknits.com/book147.html & getting back into Norwegian style knitting. I've actually made a sweater very similar to the one in the top left corner -- the black & white sweater with the boy holding the red ball of yarn.
Of course, if I make a sweater like this for one of my kids, the other two will want one too. Never mind that my husband keeps the house much too warm for anyone to even wear long sleeves in the winter, much less a wool sweater.
Maybe I'll just make myself a sweater & tell my kids I'll make them each one for a college graduation present... That should give me enough time, since my eldest is still in middle school. ;-)
posted by Cindy @ 4:16 PM
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