I’m convinced that the world would have millions more knitters amongst its population if there wasn’t the totally false (and actually evil) knitting myth that the first project one must knit is a scarf. Scarves suck to knit. They are straight, boring, and long. You go back and forth, back and forth, and back and forth, and then you do it some more.
Just think of the mountains of hand-knit garments that never got a chance because some new knitter thought that they “had better start with a scarf”. They erroneously made the connection KNITTING=BORING, when what they were really experiencing was SCARF=BORING. What a loss. Let’s have a moment of silence for the hoards of knitters prematurely aborted by scarf boredom.
I, myself almost fell victim to this terrible fate but was, thankfully, saved by a knitting sage. I was in a shop in Denver called Sky Loom Fibers – an amazing place that, unfortunately no longer exists. The shop was a smorgasbord of colors and textures. After a visit to Sky Loom I would have to just sit on the couch and stare at the wall for a couple hours because my imagination had been stretched to snapping point. So I was at Sky Loom browsing their knitting books and I feel in love with this one.
The shop keeper came over to me and asked if I needed some help finding the yarn to go with one of the patterns in the book that I was drooling all over. I told her I had never knit a stitch in my life, “so I should probably start with a scarf or something a little easier.” Ya know what this wise wise knitter said to me? “Why would you knit a scarf if you want a sweater?”
She saved me. I can cry at the thought of how close I came to wandering through this life knitless. Just imagine if she had said, “Yes, of course you’re right. You need to start with a garter stitch scarf – all knitting you don’t even have to purl. Here is a nice skein of pastel green acrylic yarn, perfect for a starter project because it’s cheap. You wouldn’t want to ruin that beautiful Rowan Tweed that you are fondling on a first project.” That would have been the end. I would have cast on the scarf, knit about 5 rows, then put it in a drawer forever. One knitter bored to death before she even got to purl.
So, you may wonder why I am currently working on this:
It’s Rowan’s fault. They faked me out. Look at that photo. Doesn’t it look like the most interesting scarf to knit…what with all those tricky stitches and lacey-like stuff? Yeah, I thought so too. It’s a fake-out.
The trickiest stitch is a yarn over. All that fun lacey stuff is a little border that you knit after you do the 100cm of the boring part.
Just think of the mountains of hand-knit garments that never got a chance because some new knitter thought that they “had better start with a scarf”. They erroneously made the connection KNITTING=BORING, when what they were really experiencing was SCARF=BORING. What a loss. Let’s have a moment of silence for the hoards of knitters prematurely aborted by scarf boredom.
I, myself almost fell victim to this terrible fate but was, thankfully, saved by a knitting sage. I was in a shop in Denver called Sky Loom Fibers – an amazing place that, unfortunately no longer exists. The shop was a smorgasbord of colors and textures. After a visit to Sky Loom I would have to just sit on the couch and stare at the wall for a couple hours because my imagination had been stretched to snapping point. So I was at Sky Loom browsing their knitting books and I feel in love with this one.
The shop keeper came over to me and asked if I needed some help finding the yarn to go with one of the patterns in the book that I was drooling all over. I told her I had never knit a stitch in my life, “so I should probably start with a scarf or something a little easier.” Ya know what this wise wise knitter said to me? “Why would you knit a scarf if you want a sweater?”
She saved me. I can cry at the thought of how close I came to wandering through this life knitless. Just imagine if she had said, “Yes, of course you’re right. You need to start with a garter stitch scarf – all knitting you don’t even have to purl. Here is a nice skein of pastel green acrylic yarn, perfect for a starter project because it’s cheap. You wouldn’t want to ruin that beautiful Rowan Tweed that you are fondling on a first project.” That would have been the end. I would have cast on the scarf, knit about 5 rows, then put it in a drawer forever. One knitter bored to death before she even got to purl.
So, you may wonder why I am currently working on this:
It’s Rowan’s fault. They faked me out. Look at that photo. Doesn’t it look like the most interesting scarf to knit…what with all those tricky stitches and lacey-like stuff? Yeah, I thought so too. It’s a fake-out.
The trickiest stitch is a yarn over. All that fun lacey stuff is a little border that you knit after you do the 100cm of the boring part.
I really want the scarf so I’m going to tough it out and finish. And then swear off scarves for the 100th time in my knitting life.
I’m bribing myself to keep at it by taking “boRING breaks” during which I make more of these.
I’m bribing myself to keep at it by taking “boRING breaks” during which I make more of these.
Is it just me or does this ring smack of Willy Wonka’s 7-course-meal bubble gum that proved the undoing of poor Veruca Salt?
You must be a great writer in order to get me interested in knitting. I won't tell my wife.
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