On a spur of the moment urge, and because I needed a new stocking hat, I decided to knit myself one.  I have a stash of yarn that has been lingering in the sewing collection of odds and ends and decided to save a little money and knit one up.  It didn’t take me very long, a few weeks knitting in the evenings and I love it!

I used straight needles and made a seam up the back.  I have circular needles, but after searching, could not for the life of me figure out where I had put them.  I found a website of free knitting patterns, with all kinds of ideas for projects.  http://www.allfreeknitting.com

I haven’t done much knitting, and would love to learn to make something more complicated.  I learned how to knit when I was in the 5th grade, back in 1965.  An aunt & uncle had moved into our home, while their house was being built, and my aunt sat down with me one day and showed me how to knit slippers.  She & her husband had knitted things for the soldiers in WWII.  I had finished one slipper and started on another.  I remember it was an April afternoon, the weather got severely stormy outside and my grandfather called us outside to see the sky.  It was actually the day of the Palm Sunday tornadoes in Indiana that year, which wiped out a whole town in Eastern Indiana.  I remember jumping up off the sofa and running outside to see what was going on.  When I returned, I found the slipper I had just started, but could never find the one I finished.  I never did find that thing.

When I was a new mother with my infant son, I decided to take a knitting class once a week, and it lasted for a whole semester.  I learned how to knit a vest in the European style of knitting or German style as the teacher called it.  It was so much fun and got me out of the house in the company of other crafty women.  I never did wear the vest, because it turned out too small!  So, I gave it away to someone for a child to wear.  But, I’ve not forgotten how to knit and I’ve got several books to help me through the tough spots, plus the internet now.