Christmas knits

Knitted gifts were given, knitting books were received, and I taught my mom how to knit. A little Gorilla Glue appeared to fix the cables separated from the joins. It's a Christmas miracle!

The gifts seemed to be received appreciatively. (It can be hard to tell with my brothers.) One of the hats was worn outside today, so I'll take that as a sign of approval.

I've flipped through both books Santa brought me. Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book looks to have plenty of information that I can really use. Now that I feel like I know what I'm doing, the tips should be helpful and somewhat understandable. The stitch dictionary has given me a few ideas for future projects. I might even be able to use the instructions to figure out the crochet work I need to do to finish those long-delayed secret projects.

Knit Fix: Problem Solving for Knitters may prove to be an indispensable addition to my knitting book library. I'm certainly good enough at the problem creating part of the equation.

As for me putting on the teacher's hat and showing my mom how to knit, it went fine. She had already purchased a beginner's kit and a couple of books. When I started, reading the books was more confusing than seeing someone else knit. My mom seemed to be having trouble learning from the printed page, so it was up to me to provide illumination. I showed her the knitted cast on, the knit stitch, the purl stitch, and binding off. I demonstrated the long tail cast on but advised her that perhaps the knitted cast on was best for now.

She wanted to learn the English method. I use the continental method, but I tried to instruct her as best I could. I was soon reminded of why I wrap the yarn with my left hand. I have a terrible time holding both needles with it.

My mom struggled at first and lost a stitch somewhere in her first knitted row. She slowly knitted row after row. She got the hang of it faster than I did. This is not to the credit of my teaching skills. (Apparently she kind of knew how to knit years ago but didn't remember how.) I showed her what to do and explained to the best of my ability. She was knitting very tightly, which I cautioned her about, but otherwise the stitches were looking good. Her practice piece looked nothing like my atrocity.

I let her knit and purl while I played euchre with my dad and brothers. After my team claimed victory, I showed her how to bind off and weave in the ends. By now it was after 11 p.m., but she wanted to get started on a scarf with her variegated Red Heart yarn. I pointed out how to read the yarn label, especially when it comes to gauge, and let her decide how many stitches to cast on for her first project. I thought she could do a basketweave scarf, but she's content to knit one in garter stitch for starters.

I don't know that I really gave her that much help in picking up the craft. Although slow, she understood what to do without much prompting. I was probably more valuable as an inspiration than as an educator. I'll take it, though.

I used the Gorilla Glue to reattach one end on all four cables to the joins. I went ahead and did the rest of the job separating the last remaining cable that had not pulled out all the way. It was headed there. Since I was gluing the others, I figured I might as well do this one too. I'm hoping they hold.

When all was said and done, I didn't do much knitting of my own. I cast on for another hat, one for me. I don't mind that I didn't get to knit. I got to share the products and knowledge of the skill I learned just more than a year ago. That seems like a fair trade for one day. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas too.