What's in a Name?

Not a Quitter Knitter....that's my blog's name and I'm proud of it, because it says precisely who I am.  In other areas of my life, I often give up easily or leave the hard work to someone else, but with knitting I've managed to be persistent.  If you think of knitting in terms of other skills you have mastered in life, you can easily see that the more times you try the more likely you are to eventually become successful.  Think of when you first learn how to ride a bike.  Did you just get on the bike and take off without any help from anyone?  Probably not.  You may have practiced with training wheels first until you got the hang of steering and pedaling at the same time.  You may have had a grown-up holding onto the back of the seat waiting until you started to balance on your own before letting go.  You may have fallen down a few times and had to dust off dirt before starting over.  Same is true with knitting.  Whether you learned from someone at your side showing you and coaching you through it or by watching a YouTube video tutorial, chances are you had some help along the way.  The ability to rip out some stitches and start over is essential for success in knitting.  Don't think of it as wasted time.  Think of it as important lessons learned.  Practice makes perfect.  Persistence pays off.  Questions yield answers.

One of the most important lessons I've learned is that knitting follows a natural progression.  This isn't something that has been written in the instruction booklets very often.  Starting with simple projects is so important when first learning how to knit.  A cotton dish cloth would be a great project to start with, or a simple scarf, but there's a lot more time involved in knitting a scarf.  Beginners want more immediate satisfaction, so the quicker the better, I say.

Funny thing is, my first project was a pair of mittens made with circular needles.  I remember how sad I was when I lost one of the mittens, too!  My grandma taught me how to knit and lead me through the whole mitten-making process, but I know I couldn't have been able to do it again without help.  Nevertheless, I did learn how to knit and twenty years later I was able to pick up some needles, cast on and knit!  I wonder what your experiences have been?  What was your first knitting project?   Who taught you or how did you learn?  Just curious.....would love to hear from you!