With so little experience and the long time gap, I had totally forgotten how to knit. Luckily, I have a friend who knew and she helped me to get started again. My first project was a black ribbed scarf for Hubby after he mentioned that it was very chilly in the city when he walked from one office to another. Unfortunately, it was such a simple, repetitive yet slow process that I soon got bored. At the moment, it's only about half completed.
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| Left to right in order of completion |
In the meantime, I experimented with knitting different yarns (there're so many types!) and worked on a few projects concurrently. So far I've made 3 scarves and a beanie over the last month. I'm now having fun learning how to knit more difficult patterns and playing around with mixing colours. I try to learn on my own by reading knitting books and trying to understand the knitting instructions. Since I started knitting, I've also been paying attention to the knitwear that people wear and appreciating the details and patterns that previously I've taken for granted.
There's a big market for knitting in Australia as knitted stuff are really useful in our cold climate. Knitting for babies and children is especially popular. But despite the huge variety and relative inexpensive material, hand knitting is still pretty much a hobby, reserved for people with time, patience and love. It's really the self-satisfaction of a handmade product and seeing someone you love use your creation that keep knitters going. Economics wise, it doesn't make much sense to spent so much effort and time (months sometimes) to make a knitted cardigan, when you can get a beautiful, made-in-China, machine-knitted one for $25 in Target. A beanie like mine cost only $4 at The Reject Shop while mine cost approx $3 (after discount) in yarn alone. That's why small projects for kids are quicker and gives more satisfaction.
