K is for Knitting

I know some very skilled knitters, but I am not one of them. I am in the beginner category and have been since I started. The first time I knitted, I was 8 years old and learned from reading a book my mother had. It was a very frustrating process. Every time I tried, the stitches got tighter and tighter on the needle until they could not be worked. With a little more practice, I was finally able to do a garter stitch (straight knit stitch). Eventually, I learned to purl.

One of my earliest creations--a dress for Midge.

However it remained a difficult process because of this basic problem. I knit left-handed. I did what came naturally when I taught myself and by the time I figured it out, I couldn't switch. I have never found another left-handed knitter to help me. I know they are out there, but they are few and far between. I had forgotten until recently that my mother signed me up for a knitting class with a neighborhood knitter when I was trying to learn. The teacher used a mirror trying to help me reverse the stitches. Maybe that's how I learned to purl. I don't remember.

I went along for years being confused by many directions and pictures and didn't really progress much. At one point, I asked my sister to help me learn how to crochet and that didn't fair any better. She used her right hand and I used my left hand. This resulted with all of my stitches having the tension on the wrong side of the stitch and I wound up with a loosely bound, holey, mess of yarn.

One of my felted purses at the community fair
that is very generous with ribbons.

I eventually learned the basic patterns you could do with knit and purl stitches and made several things. I looked for simple patterns and went through a phase where everyone got a hat and scarf I had knitted. After that, I knitted felted purses until I had once again exhausted my relatives and craft shows with my wares.

If I were learning to knit today, it might be easier with all of the tutorials that are on You Tube for left-handed
knitters. Maybe I'll watch them and see what I can learn. Or maybe I'll be happy with the status quo. There are other things calling for my attention these days like learning about post-mortem photography during Victorian times. :)

Do you knit or crochet? How did you learn?