I was trying to convince my older brother to try his hand at knitting.
He was struggling for activities in Lockdown, and I suggested knitting would be worth trying. He didn't have to take it up as a permanent hobby. He refused.
I can't knit. Well, I can do the stitching bit, but I can't cast on, I can't cast off, and I can't do anything other than a basic knit stitch. I also can't knit more than a few rows without accidentally increasing the stitches, and dropping the odd one here or there. I haven't tried knitting since I was about 9 years old.
The other week I was looking at the mounting piles of wool that had been coming in (in anticipation of my Embellisher arriving), and I decided I should at least try and learn how to cast on.
I ordered some bamboo knitting needles and, when they arrived, I set about finding a video to learn from. After much trial and error, I found a video that I could follow, and I learned the long tail method. The person who made the video assured me that, if I was only going to learn one method, this should be it.
Afterwards, I sat down, and knitted many, many rows using some gorgeous Sirdar Faroe wool. . My hand ached a bit. the needles I'd used weere a bit small for the chunkiness of the wool. I got a bit bored.
Some time later, I decided to try again, using some Sirdar Firefly yarn. That was a complete fail. I couldn't even cast on with that. I tried small needles. it was a mess.
I did!
I knitted to the end of the ball (there was only half a ball or so as I couldn't bribg myself to undo the knittting I'd done before)..
I need longer needles. I've ordered circular needles now to see if they help.
I'm aware that it's not up to much, but it's probably more knitting than I've done in the rest of my life, and I'm proud of it.
I don't think I'll be taking up knitting as a hobby. But I might try and watch a video on casting off. And maybe doing a different stitch for variety.
I'm adding this to my "learning activities" tally.
Total crafty things this year: 19
(Sewing based makes: 12; learning activities: 6; Non sewing based craft makes: 1. )
