And the bitching begins . . .

May I politely curse this site for not allowing me to save my ACTUAL first blog. The blog that I poured my heart and soul into for over an hour has disappeared, never to be perfectly rewritten.

I am completely aware that it is not I who thought up the brilliant idea to keep a log of my knitting progress -- my motivation to begin knitting in the first place developed over my incessant online research and nosy peeks into the fascinating lives and accomplishments of very talented needleworkers!

But to backtrack, I was strolling through the aisles at Books-A-Million (desperate to find a read that would make my free time less boring) when I came across the hobbies section. It was then that I realized . . . I have absolutely no hobbies whatsoever. No wonder it's so difficult for me to entertain myself. So I grabbed a huge book with a detailed list of hobby ideas. While mosaics, whittling, and coin collecting all seemed like fair ideas, the knitting chapter is what truly captivated me. Because of the student in me, I had to run home and spend hours in front of my computer researching the mystery of knitting. Little did I know that it is an entire underground obsession -- and I joined the club shortly thereafter. :)

Might I say, it is quite intimidating being self-taught at knitting. So many needle types and sizes . . . and let's not even get on the subject of yarn. My first shopping trip to JoAnn's was a success in the fact that I managed NOT to cry in the store. I literally grabbed a bunch of different sized double-ended straight needles, a cheap skein of multi-colored acrylic yarn, and a learn-to-knit-visually book. Although it was stressful, the excitement I felt to begin exercising my creativity won the fight.

I am now almost finished my first project. I probably should have practiced before just jumping in and making a scarf (with absolutely NO intent to frog it and fix horrid mistakes). I do love it, though. I used only a basic garter stitch, because I'll admit, I'm scared to try anything else on this scarf. The colors are wildly bohemian though -- maroon, hunter green, mustard, and orange. It's prettier than it sounds. And as soon as I figure out how to put pictures on this thing, I will gladly share my modest work. What's endearing to me about this scarf is that the progress of my learning is embedded into it. The beginning half is absolutely horrible, with gaping holes, indescribable knots and curls, and a somewhat "wavy" width due to my loose and horridly uneven end stitches. I've gradually improved, and the scarf tells the entire story!