How much time do you give a new craft or skill before you decide it's not for you?

[luvs2sing]

2. Knitting..

I’ve been knitting for forty years now, have taught for a few years, though I no longer teach. I think knitting is something you really have to be committed to learning. It is very frustrating at first, and there is a learning curve. Being a perfectionist and overly critical of your own work makes this much worse.

When you are a beginner, your gauge will almost always be off. When you've been knitting extensively for forty years, your gauge can also always be off. It isn’t wrong. It’s the way YOU knit, and all you need to do is adjust your needle size. I almost always get stitch gauge, but my row gauge is frequently off. And one of the best knitters I know knits so tightly that her beautiful lace creations are usually knit on needles 1-2 sizes larger than the pattern calls for. There’s no fault or shame in not getting gauge.

I taught myself to knit when I was 22. My mother tried unsuccessfully to teach me when I was a kid, but I couldn’t get the hang of it at all. Turns out, I need to tension the yarn in my left hand to knit. That’s who I am as a knitter. And even though I learned quickly, I made some horrific creations in my first years - yes, years! - as a knitter. The Aran sweater with all twisted purl stitches..the bathrobe aka bedspread with sleeves..yeah, I’ve made some real messes. But I learned from them.

My advice to beginning knitters is to get a pair of US#8 needles and a skein of light-colored acrylic yarn (acrylic because it handles being ripped out multiple times), and a good stitch dictionary. I recommend Barbara Walker’s Volume I or II. Then just make swatches. Find stitch patterns you like and figure out how to work them. I did this for about six months when I started knitting. I still screwed up a lot of stuff, but all that knitting evened my gauge out and helped build knowledge.

In short, ya gotta really want to knit and be able to handle some frustration and imperfection. I hope you stick with it, but I get it if you don’t.