Beginner Knitter Story ~

The room was next to mine. As I walked by in the hallway I could see her desk. She had all sorts of cool things like a record player and statues of Paul, Ringo, George and John.

The heads on those swayed and bopped a bit. There were papers and school books on the desk too but what caught my eyes the most was a clump of multi-colored yarn with what had to be knitting needles poking out from it.

I passed this room many times in a day. Sometimes the book pile was larger or the record player lid could be up versus down but the clump of yarn and needles just sat there. The colors were primary: red, green, yellow and black. I had never seen yarn like this. It was called variegated or space dye.

On about the third day I stopped and starred at the pile of knitting. After determining that no one was around I ventured into the room to examine the yarn closer. I could see that the #8 needles held about 6” of garter knit material. Obviously this was a beginner project with lots of errors evidenced by a few holes and uneven tension. There couldn't be more than 50 stitches on the needles. Afraid of being caught in the room I quickly left. From that moment on as I passed the room I became annoyed with myself for being such a chicken.

As the days went by and the pile of yarn sat I decided I would go back into the room. I had challenged myself to see if I could actually knit a couple of stitches and not be seen. I rushed into the room, picked up the needles and accomplished it leaving very quickly. I had been very careful to note the placement of the needles and returned them to that same angle. That evening like all those before she sat in her room, record player on chatting on the phone. Then I could hear the chair in front of the desk move but never a word about the knitting being disturbed. This emboldened me.

The next day I crept into the room and knit a whole row. The variegated yarn was fun to knit. The day after that one I knit another row and then I knit two rows on a following day. I managed to knit two or more rows several days in a row. One day as I picked up the needles I noticed that the piece had gotten as long as it was the day I discovered it. The knitting was too neat to be hers too. Panic ensued from within me.

What if she noticed that too? In all this time she hadn't knit one stitch. Surly she would question how her knitting had grown this much. I tried pulling at a few stitches I had knit to make it look more like hers. After a few more days of adding to the piece I decided I would have to let the project be what it would be finished or not. Besides, I had won and the urge to sneak around was also gone.

Weeks later I saw Mom knitting on the piece and then I saw 'her' proudly wearing the knitted piece around her neck. A different feeling of accomplishment grew within me. As she strutted the scarf she made everywhere I knew otherwise. My older sister was a gem to me....

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