This is the first knitting project I’ve ever actually finished. I first picked up a set of knitting needles when I was in high school, well before the knitting revival took off. In fact, at the time, I believe it was a decidedly unhip thing to do. I taught myself to cast on some stitches and that’s about as far as I got. Frustrated by trying to learn to knit from a book, I stowed the needles + instruction booklet away and promptly forgot about them. One high school diploma, a university education and a few months of work experience later and, during a trip back home for a visit, I stumbled upon them and decided to give knitting another shot. My second foray didn’t last much longer than the first and, in a move that was very uncharacteristic of me, I pitched the whole lot into the garbage.
Part 3 of my adventures in knitting came in February 2007 when I found a free online pattern for a ruffled shawl that I decided I wanted to make and would actually wear (I suspect that my unsuccessful attempts at knitting were undoubtedly linked to the fact that I was just trying to learn the technique and never really had a project in mind to serve as motivation). This time I downloaded a guide to knitting and ended up casting it aside in frustration. But this time I didn’t give up completely. I went to my local Loisirs et Création store and picked up a book on knitting, complete with color pictures, beginner projects and all. And it is thanks to this book that I finally learned how to knit and purl. Alas, as you already know, my first completed knitting project was a blanket for a kitten and not a shawl. The shawl is still sitting on a pair of circular knitting needles in a bag somewhere.
At the beginning of summer we moved into a new apartment and, a month or so later, decided we’d fill some of our new space with a new kitten. I was reorganizing all of my sewing materials one day when I came upon part of another knitting project I had begun. I have no idea whether I was trying to make something or just practicing, but I had completed quite a few rows already. I decided it was the perfect length for a small blanket for Simon – all I had to do was find a similar yarn in a couple of colors to make it a little more interesting.
When I went to the Phildar store and provided the yarn’s references, I was informed that they’d stopped making it years ago (I think they were exaggerating a bit, but it nonetheless reminded me of my serial fickleness with knitting). I ended up, as they say in French, “finding my happiness” in another art supply store where I picked up brown and orange skeins of cotton yarn that were virtually identical to the yarn already on the needles.
I really enjoyed this project, especially when I got to change colors to make the stripes. It took me longer to complete than anticipated, and I probably should have suspected that Simon would change by the time I finished. He is still a kitten but has already outgrown this blanket, which has since been reincarnated as lining for the bottom of his carrier bag. In fact, Simon never really warmed up to the blanket (imagine that, a furry cat not wanting to cuddle up on a blanket in the middle of summer!). He’d much rather sit on the laptop keyboard. Oh well, at least I have the satisfaction of saying one of my WIPs has become an FO!
Sunday, July 24, 2011 
