It reminded me of a former teenage cashier of mine.
After I took her to lunch one afternoon, she said she’d knit me a replica of
the beanie she often wore on her head. “I’ll take it,” I assured her. While
ringing me up a few weeks later, she asked what color I’d like. I gave her a
range – carnation pink, lavender, beige, whatever else popped in my head at the
time. Two years have passed, and where in
the hell is my hat?
It reminded me that I would like to knit hats,
gloves, and baby booties on my own. I applaud those who absent-mindedly knit on
the subway, during conference calls, while listening to NPR. If I feel relaxed
just watching someone knit, how much more relaxing could it be to do it myself?
I’ve never had a knack for anything related to sewing.
If it hadn’t been for the cooking unit, I would have failed my mandatory junior
high Home Ec classes.
Awhile back, I heard about a local yarn store’s
knitting classes. It offered one for adults and one for kids between the ages
of 7 and 12. My email to them hinted that I’d prefer placement in the
children’s program (though even that was iffy; those 7-year-olds would sew
circles around me). The person who emailed me back clearly assumed I was
kidding.
The other day, I read an essay maintaining there are
only two human motivators: desire and fear. The smallest and biggest decisions
we make are based on one or the other. When it comes to knitting, I have both
desire and fear, with the fear coming out slightly ahead.
I have many other talents I’m proud of (most of
which are fueled purely by desire): keeping secrets from people I don’t trust; bringing
seemingly inkless ballpoint pens back to life; scoring mint-condition Brooks
Brothers shirts for $10; diagnosing (and then neutralizing) any sociopaths in
my midst. There’s also my abnormally superb peripheral vision. I could go on, but won't.
I once knitted a scarf... it took a solid 9 months to knit it and by the time I was done, it was summer and way too hot to wear a scarf. That's when I realised that I enjoy the idea of knitting more than I enjoy the knitting itself.
ReplyDeleteWhen I lost my job back in 2006, I decided to take up kntting. Whenever I decide to do something new, I go out and buy a load of the best supplies.
ReplyDeleteI joined a local knitting class for beginners and it was basically the two old ladies in town that didn't know how to knit and me. I wasn't very proficient at it and I ended up quitting. I have a stunning 4" x 4" square that I made if you want to wear it on your head like a yamulke.
I'm really chuckling here. There will always be the few people who are fantastic at knitting and who spend every spare minute at it. Then there is the rest of the world. . .
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I belong in the "rest of the world" category.
The talent that you mention, Roving Retorter--the one I really would like to master--is identifying and then neutralizing sociopaths. Actually, I think I can identify them pretty well, but neutralizing them? That would be a special talent indeed, one that I have not been successful in mastering and probably never will be.