The Knitty Gritty

Yes, I know. I am a GUY posting on a knitting blog showcasing my handiwork. For all you guys out there that skeptical, knitting as two advantages that you should realize: 1) Knitting increases your manual dexterity (which is actually why I asked Teresa to teach me, since apparently dental schools like this) and 2) DA WIMMINZ realize just how good with your hands you really are. I was actually skeptical with the whole thing at first, but it really did turn out to be fun. It's a mindless activity that keeps you from not being bored. Plus, knitting really isn't that different from making lanyards, which I used to do all the time at Boy Scout and church camp.

Before this project, I did not know ANYTHING about knitting. Teresa bought me the yarn and the needles and even casted on for me (if you need to know how to cast on, visit the Knit Witch. She is our go-to woman). I remember the day quite well--I went over to her dorm room one Thursday night and she taught me how to knit whilst we watch Lost. I started with something easy--a scarf--which is essentially just row after row of stitches. The scarf is thirteen stitches across (unlucky, I know), and I just ended up knitting until the yarn was gone.

This was the start of my scarf. If you notice, the width of the scarf gets smaller as my knitting progressed. Though I must tell you, there are some phantom knitters around University of Notre Dame that you really have to look out for, but I will explain about that later. I advise any beginner knitters out there to pull on the loose yarn after every stitch in order to keep everything tight. You will definitely get better as you get more practice.

I don't know if you can see it, but the middle portion of the scarf in this picture is EXPERTLY knitted. The stitches are pulled tight and the width of the scarf is even. Like I said, it's those phantom knitters! So heres the story: I kept my knitting in Teresa's and Elizabeth's room and during the school year, I really didn't work on it that much. Apparently, Elizabeth, who is absolutely amazing, wanted to work with bigger needles than the ones she was using and just decided to knit a bit on my scarf. Whenever I started again, I could NOT figure out why that part was so good. I just thought that I must have been on fire during that particular knitting session. It wasn't until I was closer to finishing that Teresa let me in on the secret! I was sooooo angry, but since I learned on her birthday, I decided to forgive her. It was one of my better moments.

It was a bit scary whenever I came to the end of the yarn. First of all, I was not at school anymore and did not have the expertise of Elizabeth and Teresa to help. Thankfully, the Knit Witch came to my rescue (God bless her), as she showed me how to bind off (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0plhuwVF4j0). As it turns out, the scarf wasn't long enough, but I was sort of ready to be done with it and anyways, I didn't have any more yarn that color and wouldn't really have known what to do with it if I had had the yarn. It's not too bad though, since it reaches a little bit above my waist whenever I have it around my neck. I am kind of tall though, so if someone who is a little more wee than me wants, please let me know!


Well guys, tt took me a while, but by the end of my scarf, my knitting was getting to be quite good, if I don't say so myself. I was definitely proud of what I had done, and now I'm gonna move on to bigger and better things. Perhaps I will learn how to purl or maybe I'll just learn how to do different colors.

With that, I have officially entered into the blogosphere. Whodathunk that it'd be with a post about knitting? It sure is crazy how the world works.

Knittaliciously,

Joe