Knitting? Perhaps the most perfect van/camp hobby!

Spoiler alert: This is not a post about the van (though it’s connected) or camping (but again, connected) or even traveling/travels (though, again, connected). This post is about my new hobby/obsession: knitting. Or, more specifically, because I haven’t yet graduated to “real” knitting (you know, the kind with needles), loom knitting. I know, I know, for all the purists out there, it might not be real knitting, but it’s a start.

Full disclosure: I am not a patient person. I am also not someone who keeps at something if I’m bad at it. I know, as someone who has spent her entire adult life working in education, I have a pretty crappy growth mindset when it comes to myself. I’m working on it, okay?

Growing up, I watched as my grandmother, who lived next door, sewed, tatted, and crocheted her way through her days, creating delicate doilies, blankets, and clothing. The hobby seemed such a pure and dainty hobby—one that didn’t quite match my grandmother’s personality (I like to think that she was a major influence on my own snark and sass). Years later, my mom tried teaching me to knit; I was fascinated by how cool knitting looked. I admired the smooth, zen-like movements of hands, fingers, needles, yarn. I loved instant gratification of the pursuit, the way the stitches accumulated one by one, row by row, until an actual thing was being created. Yet, those initial lessons didn’t stuck. To be fair, I’m not sure I even tried. Knowing myself, I’m sure I “tried,” “failed,” and quickly gave up. Fast forward to now. My older sister sent a text to my mom, me, and our younger sister asking about setting up a knitting night—something we had been trying (and failing) to make happen. Miraculously, the four of us committed.

That first night (there have now been nearly a handful of Wednesday knitting nights), I wasn’t necessarily successful. I could cast on like nobody’s business. After that, I was lost. My mom, a career educator herself, was trying her best to teach me, while my older sister was helping our younger sister remember the steps. I was the only one without a clue. Instead, I grabbed my camera and started taking photos of my mom’s hands while she knitted away.

Later that night, as I was getting ready for bed, I Googled all types of knitting-related search phrases. And lo and behold, I came across loom knitting. A few clicks on Amazon later, my new loom and a two skeins of yarn were on its way. The loom came, I watched a gazillion YouTube videos (I especially love the ones from this knitter), learned my lingo and stitches (cast on, knit off, e-wrap, u-wrap, flat wrap, purl), made a Pinterest board to collect ideas, signed up for Ravelry, and followed the instructions I found for a simple hat. I was hooked (pun intended). The next week’s knitting night? I’d be ready.

So far, I’ve found loom knitting to be just what I need at this point: it’s fast, thus fulfilling my need for instant gratification; it’s easy, thus making me feel successful right from the start; it’s calming, thus allowing me a way to relax and de-stress after long days at work. However, I’ve learned two hard lessons right away: I totally understand how folks can spend a lot of money on yarn and knitting notions (ah, one more hobby with “gear” to buy!), and knitting each night for a few hours at a time definitely cuts into my reading/sleep time. Compromise? Knit while listening to audiobooks and podcasts—a win-win! Or, I need to learn to stop and go to bed and pick up the project the next night; I’ve been way too impatient in wanting to finish each project I begin the same day/night!

My first hat—a basic gray e-wrap hat—was a success…so much so that my niece stole it when I took it to my mom’s for Sunday dinner to show it off. I made two more hats using the e-wrap method and Lion Brand Hometown USA yarn—one in Francisco tweed, for sentimental reasons (if you know me and/or have been following the blog, you’ll know well my love affair with San Francisco) and another in Durham Woods (I’m not sure if they meant Durham as in Durham, NH, home of UNH, my alma mater, but I bought it anyway—again, for sentimental reasons). The former, my niece again stole, saying the pattern looked “like a sunset.” Who was I to argue with such poetic reasoning?

As I started making hats, I soon realized that knitting is a PERFECT hobby for the van/car and for camping. On the hour-ride to and from my mom’s for Sunday dinner each week, I can easily get half a project done. Sitting by the campfire? An entire hat. Each hat takes just a few hours, with the e-wrap being the fastest for me so far. Somewhere In between all the e-wrap style hats, I tried another hat, this time using a tighter stitch, the u-wrap (for a great tutorial on the different stitches, check out this video). I had found a fantastic yarn shop, Mother of Purl Yarn Shop, while up in Freeport, Maine, and picked up a hank of Malabrigo chunky yarn in marine, and couldn’t wait to make myself a hat for camping. Ah, merino wool.

Well, let me just say that I’m a bit of a perfectionist—I actually made this hat FOUR different times. The first time, I must have done something wrong, as I knitted a weird stitched line around the hat. I wore it for a weekend, couldn’t get past the stitch, took it apart, and remade the hat. The second time, I dropped a stitch or two, creating a hole. My mom tried to fix it, but, again, I couldn’t ignore the imperfection. Plus, I had made it on the orange loom (second largest) and it was a bit snug, so I figured I’d do it over and use the bigger loom. And so I undid it. Using the largest loom (pink one) for the third version worked out perfectly—except I made it too long. So I reluctantly gave it to G. He said it was a little snug, but he’d keep it. I decided I’d give it one more shot (I really, really wanted this hat to work for me!!), and so I undid it (see the pattern here?) and started over. Again. The fourth time, voila! Finally.

I’ve had the loom for just about a month now. In that time, I’ve made seven hats and one cowl. I’ve visited a bunch of yarn shops and spent a small fortune on yarn. And I’m having a blast. I’m getting ready to try again with the needles, but I know I’m going to have to learn patience and persistence. Maybe I’ll sign up for a class and let myself be taught by strangers; it’s too easy for my to rely on my mom to fix my mess-ups, and I’m not all that good paying attention to what my mom’s showing me. At one yarn shop I visited (another great one!!) in Dover, NH—Spinning Yarns—the friendly owner, Margot, empathized with my nascent knitting journey. “It’s hard to teach someone you love,” she said (my mom seemed to appreciate that, when I relayed the conversation). As for feeling like a failed knitter because I’m using a loom, Margot reassured me with a fun analogy. It’s like baking chocolate chip cookies from scratch, she said, versus cutting up the pre-made refrigerator dough; both will yield chocolate chip cookies, and there’s a place for both. For now, I’m content with the loom (the pre-made dough, I guess). But soon, I’ll want in on the “full” experience with my mom and sisters.

With camping weekends coming to a close for the season (I’m holding out hope that the season has one or two more nights left), I’m inside a bit more. While I miss knitting in front of a fire (alas, no fireplace in the condo), I still bundle up in my Rumpl and knit. I’m trying more advanced stitches, but I’m not sure I’m ready for those yet. I start them, lose my place, then end up unraveling the project, which, I must admit, is oddly satisfying in its own right. I bought a crochet hook, too, (okay, a few crochet hooks), and I’m playing around with learning that craft as well. Who knows? Maybe by next season, I’ll have mittens, socks, and scarves to match the hat(s)! Stay tuned…