Knit stitch

Shannon has been knitting for months now. Sometime last fall she brought her knitting bag and a scarf project over to my place, it was back in the early days of my sudden, new-found singleness. She told me she'd taken a class at Lani's in Studio City and now she's a knitter with a bag full of string that will one day be a sweater. I was interested in her new obsession — yarn and sticks turn into into fabric? That's crazytalk! — but my schedule was full, I was simply too busy being miserable to take up a new hobby.

Trying to find a new place to live, trying to figure out how to handle the holidays, trying to wake up each morning and make it through eight hours at work without crying at my desk or talking into my bra while directing traffic on 6th Street, muttering something about marriage being for suckers, film footage at eleven. It kept me busy.

But now that's all behind me, thank God. Except the part about talking into my bra.

Now that the move is done and I am safely nested away in my tiny house and there are many stacks of unpacked boxes to ignore, I can open up to a new hobby. I need a new hobby. Aside from bonding with my sofa and making sweet love to my TiVo, my life is pretty passionless.

Shannon took me along me to her Saturday knitting class at Lani's, with Anna. The instructor was patient with me and laughed at my neurotic antics, but with a nice laugh, not the you're making me nervous laugh. Very important difference.

I had no yarn or needles, of course, and one of the ladies in the shop told me to select a yarn and then she'd help me with needles. I immediately went for the fussiest yarn on the shelf, and was sent back for a "beginner" yarn, something smooth, not too nubby, evenly sized, not too small. I picked a lovely wool yarn with little tiny ribbon bits running through it, not exactly a beginner yarn but I have to love the yarn or I will never complete a project.

Filatura di Crosa "Tokyo" color 2 , 50 grams, $12
Lantern Moon ebony needles, 12", size 10.5

The class instructor cast on the yarn to get me started, and then she taught me the basic knit stitch while Shannon watched on. Do you have any idea how much pressure it is to knit your first stitch while people watch you? Knitting stress is a real thing.

Before long I was looping and stitching may way to a whole row. Then another. Knitting is fun! Knitting is like crack! Give me more! Can't stop!

I went home and all I wanted to do was knit, knit, knit. Unfortunately, I had to put the yarn aside and clean my house as much as one can clean with piles of boxes everywhere. Jennifer was coming over for dinner last night, so I had to tidy up and find something to cook. All I wanted to do was knit! Knit! I swept and vacuumed around the boxes and put away dishes in record time. I got in at least two rows before she came over, and was midway through a third when she knocked at the door. I opened the gate for her and then, good hostess that I am, promptly sat back on the sofa to finish my half-completed row. Jennifer was clearly bored with this fascinating new hobby of mine, so I put everything aside for the evening. I guess it's more exciting to be the knitter than the observer of the knitter.

This morning I finally gave myself over to the obsession.

I woke up, made a cup of coffee and planted myself on the couch with knitting and TiVo. By noon my ass had grown roots into the sofa and my very first scarf was all on its way.

I LOVE knitting. I mean love-love-love knitting.

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