My new (old) hobby

I have knitted off and on (though mostly off) for many years. I remember learning when I was about 8 from the neighbor across the street who held a little knitting class one summer for all the girls on the block. She made us the nicest little homehade instruction booklets, complete with pictures cut out from magazines of happy people knitting glued onto the pink construction paper she made the booklet out of. But I bored quickly with it, and ended up knitting, in total, a little piece that was the perfect size for me to use as an oversized shawl for my astronaut Barbie. (Meredith was a geek from day one, people).

I have since picked it up off and on, but never long enough to complete any single thing. I guess I never got good enough to be able to knit without looking at my hands (as other people obviously can do since they watch TV while knitting or even read a book! ) But the other night I actually had a night off from teaching, tutoring, and working and spontaneously picked up my knitting after a solid year of having it sit in the basket next to my chair, completely untouched. (This spontaneity on my part is probably a direct result of having so many friends and family members that are avid knitters right now). I finished my scarf tonight! I use the word scarf loosly as it's just really a long, skinny piece of knitting, but still. I actually finished something! And it's a pretty, light blue chenille so that's cool too. I guess at this point I'll make another scarf and try some different patterns out to see if I can get good at it. Maybe someday I'll even graduate to making a cute hat or something!