Six years ago, a friend from college taught me how to knit. I bought my yarn and needles from the Walmart in Lewisburg, PA, it took me about two years to finish this garter stitch scarf, and there are several random holes in it because I didn’t know I was doing yarn-overs, BUT it was the start of what I hope is a lifelong passion.

Four years ago, a friend from work retaught (reminded?) me how to knit and I finally finished the above scarf. Additionally, I learned how to purl, knit in the round, and read a pattern. Before I learned how to read a pattern, I decided that I wanted to knit a headband. My plan was to cast on a reasonable amount of stitches, knit back and forth like a mini scarf, and then when it was done, sew the two ends together to make a headband. However, I had zero knowledge of gauge back then, and it turned out that my “reasonable number of stitches” was not exactly reasonable. I soon realized that I was actually knitting another scarf, not a headband. Whoops.

Two years ago, I made my first mitten. I didn’t understand how to do the thumb (“what do you mean, I just start knitting?”), so I ended up FaceTime-ing my Grandma for some help. I had also just figured out how to do cables and made a wine bottle sweater. Back then, I SWORE that would be the largest sweater I would ever make. However, I continued to experiment with miniature sweaters in the form of Christmas ornaments and beer bottle sweaters.

All those mini sweaters gave me decent sense for the geometry, structure, and construction for a sweater, so when I saw a class posting for the Lemongrass Sweater by Joji Locatelli at The Cat and Crow, I felt like I was ready to take the plunge.

One year ago, I took that class, learned about gauge, made my first swatch, and ultimately finished my first sweater sized to fit a human (and an adult human, no less!).

It was a great experience–and it didn’t take two years to knit, like I feared! I then went on a hat knitting spree, but a couple of months later, I was ready to take on my first solo sweater.

Now, my tally of finished adult human sized sweaters is up to 1, 2, 3, 4–with no end in sight! I’ve done top-down, bottom-up, stranded-knitting, and now steeking as well! There is a wide world of sweaters out there, and I just can’t stop!

I’m going to try to take a quick break from knitting myself sweaters to make something smaller, like a hat, so I can get some instant gratification and also add some stock to my Etsy shop before the holidays. However, I don’t think it will be too long before I’m back at it with another sweater on my needles. Here are some of the sweaters that I’m looking forward to knitting next:

• Mountain Mist by Tin Can Knits
• Icelandic Overblouse by Elizabeth Zimmerman (I will be doing Meg Swansen’s stocking stitch version)
• Bodie by Elizabeth Doherty (If, of course, I can overcome the fact that this sweater is not knit in the round)

I’m planning on heading over to The Cat and Crow tomorrow to show them my latest finished sweater. What are the odds that I come home with another sweater’s worth of yarn? 🙂

Until next time,

Megan “not a normal  person, but a sweater person” Sinton