How did I get here? Well. My name is Erin, and I used to be a regular, non-knitting individual. But all that changed about four years ago. Before then, I thought yarn was vaguely interesting…sort of. Somehow, mysteriously, I got sucked in.
I started knitting when my son was eight months old. I learned from a book, and while I wanted to throw the yarn across the room and use the book as kindling for a fire (I was a leedle frustrated at first), I kept at it. When I had a strip of something that looked like knitting, I felt almost as I did when I first became a mother. “See that? I made that! Isn’t it cute?”
At first I could take it or leave it. I didn’t need to knit all the time, and I didn’t miss it when I had a few minutes’ time and nothing to do. It took me seven attempts to knit a purse. Seven agonizing cast-ons, hours and hours of grinding concentration to make the simple in-wrap-out-off motions of knitting, and seven fraught bind-offs, including my personal favorite, when I figured I could cut the yarn an inch in length after I’d finished, and I watched the entire thing frog itself in .087 seconds. That was attempt #6, by the way. Weirdly enough, I kept at it.
Sometime after that, I don’t know when, I morphed into a knitter. I started visiting the local yarn store, Yarns Etc, more often. I started planning ahead, buying yarn for those “future projects” I had planned (the slippery slope of yarn addiction is very subtle), and sometimes I just bought yarn because it felt too good to go home without it. I started new and daring things like…hats, socks, sweaters. Things meant to fit a human body, and sometimes the results were tragically comic. What better way to underscore the importance of gauge than to spend two months knitting a nightgown that would work better as a cozy for a tractor tire? That little label on the yarn is trying to tell you something, chica!
My son is four now, and I have an almost four-month old daughter, too. My knitting time is scarce, but now I would say I am a Knitter. It is a rare day that I don’t knit for at least a few minutes (I knit while I waited in the hospital to have my daughter—the nurses were very amused, and I think some of them wanted me to get a psych consult). I buy knitting magazines, I’m on a knitting and crocheting social network (Ravelry holla! If you haven’t been there, you must go), and one of my most favorite moments in life right now is the second I walk in the door at Yarns Etc, and just look from wall to wall at all the cubbies full of fuzzy skeins that scream, “take me home!”
When did you become a knitter, Knitter, or knit enthusiast? Or even...a crocheter???
I don’t get to come to Yarns etc as much as I’d like to lately, but I am always greeted like an old friend when I show up with my wee people. My son loves Mary’s thoughtful assortment of toys (and I appreciate them, too), and has even knit a little bit. My daughter is becoming alert enough to see all those beautiful colors on the shelves…perhaps she will become addicted to the art of knitting and crochet, too?
A few days ago, Mary had asked me if I would be interested in writing for the store’s blog, and I leapt at the chance. Hmmm, let me think…talking about yarn, knitting, my favorite store, and do it weekly. Gee…um…YEAH!
So that's how I got here. I want to talk about yarn, fiber, cool stitches, beautiful projects, and all the fun things that are arriving at Great Yarns and Yarns etc. I want to make your mouths water and your fingers twitch with lots of beautiful pictures of projects and yarns.
