purling away

I cannot do seed stitch. I just cannot. I can knit. I can purl. I can do "stocking" but I have spent hours today trying to do the seed. Is it seed stitching? Is it stiching seed? I don't even know the terminology usage! Either way, I have tried using different needles, different yarn. I have used the thickest yarn I can- which is what all knitters I know recommend for beginners! I need help.

He said, "Knit one, purl two, that's how the story goes, huh?" (a client at work)

Earlier when I was practicing stocking, I thought of my cousin. Whenever I do purl I think of her. Her birthday is in April, and the pearl is her birthstone.

I met with my friend tonight for coffee before work. She is a knitter and invited me to my first (and only, so far) knit nite. It's on Tuesday evenings. It was surreal the night I went there. I showed up with my few skews of yarn and crochet and knitting needles. I was working on a hat; and I was crochetting it, not knitting. There were about 15 women there, mostly middle aged, so younger some older, and they all seemed dear friends. They were all what I'd call Southern. I could not help but laugh at the typicality (is this a word, well it is now!) of the situation, especially when someone mentioned being SLUTS... Southern Ladies Under Tremendous Stress! I laughed out loud.

They were real knitters. One woman was making a doll! Several, shawls and blankets. My friend, was knitting socks. I wasn't even knitting, but crochetting. I showed them what I called my "ghetto" hat... the first knit hat I had made! They laughed, but out of joy, and said, "It's a start!" Now I have circular needles (I didn't say I was an expert at them yet) to bring to the group, and now that I am starting anew and getting out more, I will go again. Not this Tuesday, but next.

The book is wonderful. My plan is to practice each stitch as it is introduced in the book. I am stuck at seed. I want to learn to spin. I need wool! If anyone knows the direction in which to go... point!

I should be sleeping...

I work nights. This gives me a lot of downtime, a lot of time to think.

Thinking... is not what I want time to do.

I have decided to be a copycat. To make an experiment. As a way to save myself, to keep me from overthinking thus getting depressed about my current heart-ache, I shall blog about knitting.

I am currently reading Casting Off by Nicole R. Dickson. I picked it before the break-up, probably subconciously knowing I would need a book in the future about letting go. Also, another book filled with Irish humor, scenery and... knitting.

Though I just started knitting, I learned to crochet in junior high. My step-mom Andrea taught me. I never did finish that scarf. I have finished several scarves now and hats! Working with different yarns, sizes of needles, playing with different stitches... this is my life now. That and blogging about it!

This shall be an effort to be honest (might as well be since no one's reading, right?!), committed (every day!), and to challenge myself to keep going (I can't just post about knitting single knit stitches every time... I must push towards new horizons!).

I will post pictures. Write stories. Talk about books about knitting, Irish sweaters, sheep, knitting patterns I have tried, knitters I have met, spinning (when I get there!), what knitting will mean for my future. And of course when I am not blogging, I will simply knit.