KNITTING WITH WOOL

The reason that I initially presented knitting with wool on my blog was due to the fact that this was the first skill that I had been taught by both of my maternal and paternal grandmothers. It brought back a lot of wonderful memories, as well as a few giggles, when I thought back to the days when we sat together, spoke, and knitted at the same time. Knitting, like any other kind of handiwork, is something you can do by yourself or with other people at a gathering, where you may make new friends and share some laughs in the process of creating something. Knitting is a hobby that, as we can both probably agree, offers something for each and every person. This is where we got our start, with the younger members of the group learning how to knit in French. The only issue was that we did not have a knitting nancy, so my father fashioned one for each of us by drilling four tiny nails into the top of several empty wooden cotton reels. My brother, my sister, and I were each handed some yarn, and we immediately set to work building our own snakes, or at least that’s what they first seemed to be. Given the competitive nature of our clan, it didn’t take long for us to transform this activity into a contest to see who could last the longest. We were very fortunate that our grandma and mother were around to mediate the situation and to put together what we had created in order to transform it into throw rugs, place mats, and other useful items. After finishing the french knitting project, the next thing we worked on was making scarves. Our brother was a few years older than us, which meant that by the time we learned how to make scarves, our brother already had a girlfriend and wasn’t interested in learning how to knit anymore; besides, a guy doing knitting, how uncool! As a result, it was up to my sister and I to continue learning more about knitting, and it was a lot of fun to do so. As soon as we were proficient in the art of scarf making and began wearing them, all of our friends began placing orders with us for us to create them a scarf in the colors of their favorite football team. The next items on the menu were jumpers, sweaters, and cardigans, and we ended up making quite a number of these items during the course of the project. Because of the passage of time and the fact that as we grew older we transferred our attention to sports and were also busy going out with our friends, knitting was put on the back burner. Aside from that, it was a lot simpler for us to go to the shop and purchase our clothing rather than make it ourselves. Even our great-grandmother and mother slowed down their production of items since none of us wanted to wear clothes that had been created at home; rather, we wanted to be like the rest of our friends and purchase our clothes from stores. Knitting with wool is an art that is becoming extinct, as I said on my blog, and it would break my heart to see it go extinct and forgotten. Everyone who is familiar with knitting should make a concerted effort to pass on their skills to at least one other person each year in order to ensure the survival of the trade. Best wishes as you knit. Crafty Critter Lesley Walters is the author of Painting and Craft, which can be found online at PaintingandCraft.com.