My First Knitting Project

Currently Listening to: "Big Sur," The Thrills

My Mom taught me to knit last summer. We went to a local wine bar/coffee house downtown and sat with two glasses of Cab amid students and grungies, rebelliously flashing our knitting needles in the sea of indie iPods and too-cool-for-school Macbooks. We were the minority, and I felt very exposed as a first-time knitter, but no one seemed bothered by our antiquated hobby... in fact, we were largely ignored and happy to be so.

The hardest part, at first, was figuring out how to hold everything. The yarn slipped off my finger as I attempted to "throw" it over the needles, and if I got the hang of it and moved a little too fast, stitches slipped off my little needles and into an infinite abyss. It was frustrating--but fun.

For some idiotic reason, I thought that knitting a blanket for my then-pregnant, now-mother, best friend Allie's baby-to-be was a GREAT first project. Allie is my first friend to have a baby, and has been my best friend since 3rd grade. I was excited about making a blanket for her and her new baby, but I had no idea it would take SO LONG. I restarted the blanket three times, and although I began a month before little Abby was born I didn't finish until she was at least three months old. Still, it was a motivating project--Abby is so flippin cute I want to cover her in knits.

My first knitting project-- A blanket for Ms. Abby

Abby was born on July 11th, 2008 in the wee hours of the morning. Allie was amazing, a real trooper. She never complained and allowed me, my mother, and her family (we're all family friends) to circle in and out of her hospital room, demanding updates and slurping noisily on Starbucks as she lay hungry, thirsty, and in labor. Not to mention Abby was like 10 lbs. Seriously.

I'll always have a special place in my heart for this first project. Hopefully, Aunt Sarah (Allie said Abby can call me that!) will knit cuter, more useful things in the future... but despite the noticeable mess-ups on the blanket, I'm still glad I was able to give her my first project. Maybe years and years from now, when Abby's older and I'm the best knitter ever, I'll teach her to make a blanket, and she can give it to me :)

-Sarah