New skills

I know how to knit. I know the difference between knit and purl and I can knit a mean ladder! Or a paintbrush, elephant, Christmas mouse. I have knitted scarves, sweaters and in my younger (foolish) years even pyjamas! But I had never knitted socks. Because knitting with four needles was aaaaarrrggghhh!

But I wanted to be able to knit socks. I wanted to make my own and not having to depend on my psychic friend Pepperfly to make them. I wanted socks that looked like my paternal grandmother could have made! However, my paternal grandmother passed away a few years ago, I never asked my aunt who knows how to knit socks and then I moved to Norway. Where they knit in a way that baffles me every time I see it. Mind you, my way of knitting baffles them. Something to do with how we hold needles and yarn. In the end the result is a knitted product though, whatever way you knit.

Anyway, while in Sweden we were in one of those shops that sells yarn and needles and stuff. And it turned out that one of my friends knows how to knit socks. So, I got me some needles and yarn and decided there was no time like the present to learn. 

The first thing to get used to was those awfully short needles. I am used to 40cm needles, one of which will be clamped under my arm at all times. Now I had to get used to five 20cm needles which seemed to be going everywhere! I lost stitches (picked them up again), swore a lot (in Dutch, no need to offend my host), but I soon started to get some sort of hang of it. It actually started to resemble something. 

The friend who knew how to knit socks, had to explain every step of the way. First she had to translate from Swedish to Norwegian and then she had to get me to understand what on earth she was on about. I had to do it and I had to write it down, which was a mixture of Dutch and English, so it was a real international affair! But the end result was... a sock! An actual sock, knitted by yours truly! Yes, there were some flaws, but that didn't matter: I had enough yarn to make more socks. 

And not even a week later, I have a total of three pairs of knitted socks. Ready to replace the pairs my grandmother knitted for me all those years ago. I have a feeling she would be proud!

PS: I had bought some yarn while still living in the Netherlands. Guess where it hails from! Right: Sweden! With the pattern on the back of the paper!!