In Which I Knit

I wasn't interested in knitting when my grandma was alive and that's something I really regret because she was truly amazing at it. Bright red nails and furiously clattering knitting needles: that's how I remember her.  I was almost always dressed in something she'd made me. So were my dolls. She even knitted me a Care Bear once. Awesome.

This was obviously before I could talk and say "Oi, family, stop dressing me in pink!"

She hasn't been alive for a long time though (I've been a grand-orphan for well over a decade), so it's my mum that I have to turn to for help now. Knitting isn't her preferred craft (she is shit hot at cross-stitch) but she knows a hell of a lot more than I do and she can usually help me out. The problem is this: I have a huge mental block about casting on. I'm sure there's an easy method out there somewhere but I can't learn it. Things usually go like this:

Me: "Muuuuuuum"

Mum: "Can't you remember how to do it yet?"

Me: "Clearly not" *holds out wool and needles with an imploring look*  "Show me please."

Mum: "You just do this." *whirl of wool* *hands it back* "Easy! Try it yourself now."

Me: "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" (nervous hysterical laughter - I don't actually find it funny) *attempts it* *ends up somehow tying a sheepshank knot around the needle* "Oh for fuck's sake."

Once we've gone through that a few times and I've basically resigned myself to never being able to cast on properly, I plod along quite merrily. I knitted myself a headband in a couple of hours on holiday whilst curled up on the sofa feeling like death and trying to sidetrack myself by watching Pointless. There was the occasional "Your tension is quite tight, isn't it?" "THAT'S BECAUSE I AM TENSE" outburst but other than that, it was all good. I might be shocking at casting on but I can knit, I can purl and I can cast off. That's all that was needed for this pattern which I found on A Stash Addict. And yes, I did google "super easy knitted headband pattern". FYI, "Easy knitted headband" patterns are NOT EASY.

What I'm not so good at is following instructions because either the wool or the needles (or both) was the wrong size and my first attempt was not big enough to fit around my giant noggin. Second time worked much better though. I added on some more stitches and a couple of extra rows and it fits just right.



Yay! I made that.