a new language

I knit a hat. And I learned SO MUCH that I decided to knit another one. And I learned from that too! Because knitting, it seems, is like learning a new language.

How so? Well, there is vocabulary -- knit, purl, ssk, k2to, RS, psso etc. And, as in any language, simply "translating" new vocabulary into "English" doesn't mean you understand what's going on. So after learning some of the basics, I decided to play around a bit and practice my "fluency". The thing is that knitting (like cooking and sewing) produces a fair bit of LEFTOVERS -- half balls of yarn that stare at you forlornly asking you to make something out of them.

So, I started a bunting (yet another current obsession). Playing with patterns, making things up as I go along and learning to "read" this new language -- as in: what stitch am I looking at? what should come next? and, most importantly, where have I gone wrong? I've done a lot of "tinking", which is knitting backwards (literally! KNIT - TINK, get it?). So much so I've probably made at least three hats' worth of stitches in the process.

And because the best way to really learn a new language is to be bold and use it, next up on the needles is something REALLY BIG!