My First Knitting Project

I started knitting this past winter. Technically, it wasn’t the first time. I do have a childhood memory of my grandmother showing me how to knit at her house. I think I was working on a plain scarf that was a light blue color? I did not keep up the habit so this time I was teaching myself again, essentially from nothing. I have crocheted before. I found knitting a little more challenging and time consuming, but I think I like the results better than crochet.

After playing around with plain knitting and purling and making a few swatches, I looked for a simple project that would teach me a few other basic stiches and also be practical (without the sizing requiring too much math). I settled on this free pattern for a shawl. The pattern is called Malus Domestica. You may be wondering why sizing intimidates me with knitting when I feel very comfortable sewing my own clothes. When sewing, you can very easily make something smaller if you need to adjust, and though not quite as easy, you can also make things bigger by letting out seams or adding sections of fabric or trim. With knitting or crocheting, you have to cast on for the right number of stiches for your size at the very beginning. If you cast too few, there is no way to add them on. Or if you cast too many, you cannot cut the extra off. You just have to start again.

This shawl is mostly plain so that gave me plenty of practice with knit and purl, but it also used Make One Right, Make One Left and using a stitch marker. The border was also a little more decorative, using a moss stitch (which I partially messed up) and Knitting Two Together before binding off. I also practiced using two colors. I really like the darker heathered purple. The heathered look also helped hide my mistakes in the moss stich!

I look forward to putting this on in the winter when I need an extra layer (always!). I also have been looking through my vintage knitting pattern pamphlets and magazines, plotting my next project…stay tuned.