Easy Knitting Patterns

I have this reputation for being late, like a lot of women. So why am I always late? I think part of it is that I am avoiding boredom due to being early and having nothing to do. I just can’t stand the thought of getting to an appointment 15 minutes early and having to just sit there.

But something happened to change all this about a year ago–I rediscovered knitting. It was all quite unexpected. I was at a church women’s retreat. There were two women there who sat and knitted all weekend. One of them even had two different projects she was working on. The other one was working on an afghan in what has become one of my favorite easy knitting patterns–what I call quadruple rib. I was sitting diagonally behind her and was mesmerized by the rhythm. I studied her technique. I knew I just had to pick up knitting again (after a thirty-year hiatus).

Almost as soon as I was back home, I was rifling through boxes for my mom’s old knitting needles and yarn. My mom had been a knitter par excellance. She made herself an entire wardrobe of knit jackets. She had made me some stunning Barbie outfits (which I still have) that were made with superfine baby yarn. Makes my eyes cross just to think about it now. But then, she was in her thirties when she made them, so her eyes hadn’t reached the reading glasses phase yet.

Anyhow, all I could find was her circular knitting needles, so I started with them. I pulled out an old knitting book from my “library.” The copyright was 1942. The black-and-white diagrams were a little tough to make out, but it got me started. Then I remembered a 1970s-vintage Time-Life sewing book with knitting directions in the appendix. That helped me firm up my technique. I started making frequent trips to Michaels, buying new needles and more yarn. Now I’m a full-fledged addict.

Anyhow, back to being late. Now that I know I can take my knitting along, I’m so much more likely to show up early. My reward is a few stolen minutes to feed my addiction. Now I wish I had been knitting back when my kids were young and I was wasting time in all those carpool lines.

I’m kind of stuck in the easy knitting patterns phase right now. Maybe someday I’ll take the time to learn the trickier stuff. But for now, I’m enjoying doing really simple patterns that don’t require my full concentration. I think of it as knitting on auto-pilot. I take my knitting almost everywhere (although I hold the line at Sunday mornings). I’m enjoying this newly re-discovered creative outlet. Hope you’ll enjoy the designs I’ve created.

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