For the love of knitting

"How can you even stand to do that?" is what my mom usually asks when she sees me knitting. And some times I think she may have a point. Modern industry has removed the need for us to make our own clothes, good yarn is not cheap, and knitting is time consuming.  So why knit?

I started knitting less than two years ago. Before that, if someone asked me what I thought about knitting I'd probably have said something like: lame, waste of time, and isn't that for old people? I was so scathing I would even roll my eyes walking by the local yarn shop (gasp!). At the ripe age of 24 I apparently became an old person.  I was waiting around at my pharmacy, and a woman next to me was knitting. She was working on a tube-shaped thing with some pretty small needles, but I remember it being a really lovely variegated red. Deep and vibrant. We had a pivotal conversation in which I learned how wrong I was, and she inspired a passion in me to learn knitting. I remember it exactly: "Are you knitting?" "Yep." "Is it difficult to do?" "Nope." I was sold.  That very night I bought some cheap yarn and needles, intended to make a scarf (those are simple right?) and I was off! Or was I on? Wait, what's casting on? Casting off, are we sailing? How did I make that hole? Purl?! There's more than just a knit stitch? Basically I had no idea what I was doing, and this has become a theme throughout my knitting.  But after watching the same YouTube videos over and over (shout out to knittinghelp.com) and getting some basics down, I decided to use that holey, uneven, lumpy "scarf" to learn more techniques.  

I've been knitting ever since for a few reasons. The most obvious is sweaters are awesome, and there are a lot of fashionable designs out there.  Who doesn't love a good fall sweater, or summery linen top? But beyond the great fashion potential, I really love knitting. It's steady, rhythmic, and helps slow my mind down. But what I may love most is the progress.  When you knit a stitch, you've made a stitch.  It's right there for you to see.  I love this.  In the lab I work in, that type of visual progress is almost non-existant. I can't see what's going on at the cellular level, but I can see a stitch.

http://www.etsy.com

So why do you knit? For me, it's because I love the process of seeing something take shape. Tell me how you got started knitting!  Did you learn as a child? Did you teach yourself after being an ass about it it, like me? Is it a family tradition? Share why you love it! What is it about looping yarn around itself that draws you in? I'd love to hear!