Knitty Gritty

I have discovered the greatest invention known to man. Indoor plumbing? Vaccinations? Those really cute grey suede shoes I bought the other day? No, no, and no. Size 50 knitting needles. OMG!

I've seen these knitting needles before and always scoffed at them. They're as big around as a baby's arm and something about them just looks . . . well, kind of vulgar. I was loathe to try them.

But . . . I wanted to knit some blankets for my sofas to replace the giraffe print ones that we've had for, like, ten years (that I still dearly love, by the way). I've been saying every winter that I was going to do this, and still, I never quite get around to it. The whole task seemed so incredibly daunting. It takes me a couple of weeks to knit a scarf. Two entire blankets would take eons!

But, the giraffe print was starting to get on my nerves and I found this pattern that claimed it only took six hours to complete. The reviews were excellent with everyone exclaiming how quickly it worked up and how easy it was. I was hooked (pun intended) even though one had to use the vulgar needles to create it.

So I bought my needles, feeling very silly as I checked out and started on my six-hour-throw. I was shocked that in just two sittings, I was half-way finished! And it was so easy!

I really do love to knit. It's fun and relaxing and I like to say, "Yes huh, I did too make that." But it is sooooooo time consuming. Usually, when I go to knit something, I'll start off all excited, thinking about the baby for whom I'm knitting and how the little blanket with cover him/her up at night and I'll get all wistful. Then after a couple of weeks, I'll lose steam and start thinking to myself that a scarf is really a better present for a baby because everyone will be giving blankets, no one will give the poor thing a scarf. Then a couple of weeks will go by and I'll start using the knitting project as a coaster and I'll have spilled a couple of cups of coffee on it and then I'll just say, "Forget it! I'll get them a gift card for Target!"

But with my new needles, a whole other world has been opened up to me. I'm proud to say that I am morphing quite nicely into a crazy old lady with a roomful of yarn. Now I just need a couple dozen cats to make it complete.