Julie has a sort-of-meme going about where she learnt knitting and when and what she did with it. Here’s my story.

I sort of learnt to knit from my mother while in school (class 6 or something). We had a subject called Craft and we did one of everything for that. That’s where I learnt crochet (my mom can’t crochet). There were assorted embroidery and sewing projects and things made with crepe paper, ribbon, spangles, plastic dolls and umbrella frames (not the lifesize ones, there used to be smaller toy size ones – I always think, ‘What a bonanza for the small shop near the school gates where we always bought these things!’) and things with sponge and cardboard and matty cloth and embroidery floss and yarn…you get the idea. Anyway, in one of the classes we were supposed to make baby booties. In actual fact, my mom made them for me, from the Fleisher’s book I referred to in my last post, in a nice shade of yellow. I wonder what happened to them. I’ve made the same ones since at least a couple of times.

After school, I didn’t knit much until I reached JNU in Delhi and had the cooler winters. Plus my sister had a baby (my niece). So I got the Fleisher’s and needles from my mom, and bought my yarn in Munirka and made a drop stitch shrug which was supposed to be for a toddler or older child, but given my materials, turned out ok for a baby. That might also have been the time I made the cardigan I showed in my last post. Or wait, I think I made the cardigan first, and then when my mom went for my nephew’s birth I made the drop stitch shrug. Shrug. My sister alleges I made my nephew another sweater, in grey and white, but I can’t remember. As I increasingly feel, my brain is turning to mush. I am not able to remember what I did less than 10 years ago.

Apparently I also made a sweater for a cousin’s baby. There was also this horrendous (with the benefit of hindsight) yarn that I bought to try and make something for myself. One product of that was a bulky vest (I doubled the yarn and shrunk the needles to what I had available). I shall dig it up one of these days for a bad photo shoot.

Then I took a hiatus again from knitting, but stayed with crochet in Bombay, turning out lots of doilies and runners and things, including a set for a neighbour’s new baby (actually that was a knit set, again from Fleisher’s). But in Bombay I also had the distraction of libraries, so I had other avocations, as my mom would say.

We came to Vizag in October 2004 and finding precious few sources of books here, I’ve taken up knitting and crochet with a vengeance, and been building my yarn and pattern stash madly. Also this blog. Here ends the first lesson.

Seeing as this is such a dull and pictureless post, I shall direct you to this YouTube video I was sent to by Debbie. (I tried embedding the video here, but my credit with the WordPress guys doesn’t extend that far). Enjoy! It’s a good thing we have a slow internet connection, or I’d spend all my time watching other people’s cats. Thank you Debbie, it cheered me up.

ETA: Trying embedding this again.

ETA!!!: I misguidedly and mistakenly have given the impression that the video above is mine. I must beg everyone to please forgive me, the video belongs fully to its creator, TerriShea at YouTube. I’m sorry for the deception, but regular readers will know I have little compunction about “stealing” cats! This will get me into serious trouble one day. (Not that I don’t wish this particular kitten was mine… and a million others).