Not sure if I mentioned this, but every year, I like to give myself goals. Not resolutions necessarily, but goals to focus on during the year. I personally love to learn and I am not picky… languages, new skills, professional development for work, pretty much any and everything. This year, some of my goals include: learning more about composting to incorporate composting into our daily lives, with our own outdoor compost bin, working on eating more local foods (i.e. meat, vegetable, fruit, etc.), and to learn to knit!
Knitting was the first goal I started on and since I have barely even clamped eyes on knitting needles and only used yarn in crafts, I started at the beginning, of course! I am what is called multi-modal, which means that I utilize multiple learning styles to best absorb new information or a new skill. I am an auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learner. What does that mean? That means that while I am listening to a teacher (who can be actual teachers, family, or friends), I incorporate visuals, which help me to remember the skill or information. Then to help it to sink in completely, I need to actually physically complete the skill or put the knowledge into action (which could be teaching someone else that information or utilizing the knowledge I recently learned). Long story even longer… to start, I went onto the good ‘ol Youtube, just like I never had in the days of old.
I watched this video: “How to Knit: Absolute Beginner Knitting, Lesson 1 – Even if you’re clueless!” by Expression Fiber Arts. Do not worry about my feelings being hurt, I was completely clueless and I am not too proud to admit it! This video was perfect, and thankfully I was able to pause it from time to time to “cast on”, or get the yarn on the knitting needle. I was so excited to get started that I failed to do some necessary research regarding the yarn — I did not roll the yarn into a ball, but kept it in the packaging that I bought it in, assuming I would be all set. Well, I started knitting and before I knew it, my yarn got tangled! I had other issues, like losing about 10 stitches, so instead of 25 stitches, I was down to 15, when I wanted to make a scarf. With all of this minor issues, my attempted scarf turned into a tiny pot holder!
Thank goodness for good friends who take these things off your hands, right?! Thank you, Christy, for being the new owner of a tiny pot holder… that may come apart quickly. Why?
My last issue was that I rushed through watching the “cast off” method of the aforementioned video, and as you can see, that pot holder does not have a sealed end. Oops! Thankfully, we live and learn. This is where the kinesthetic learning style comes in handy, because now that I have started to learn the first parts of knitting, like casting on and the knit stitch, I can only improve. Next time, I will be able to focus more on the casting off correctly. Before I start the next one though, I’m working on rolling my balls of yarn, which is taking a good amount of time… fellow knitters out there, any suggestions?!
Until next time, make sure to take some time to enjoy the simple things in life, like learning something new!
Thoughts du Jour 