When I was a little kid, my grandmother taught me how to knit. I liked it a lot, but because I was a little kid and could only handle so much information, she only taught me one stitch--the garter stitch. So I practiced that sucker, knitting what I could, which was, basically, flat things. I could cast on and cast off, but I didn't know how to make sleeves or ribbed edges or follow any kind of pattern, so flat things, it was. My results were spotty at first--lots of dropped stitches, lots of holes--but I practiced, and I got better at it, producing a bright red scarf from my dad, which he wore, bless his heart. I'm sure it looked a mess.
I started getting older, like 9 or 10, and lost interest, but when I went to school at Moore College of Art and Design, I made a friend named Lee Bradford, who liked to knit. Lee was an upperclasswoman, and she gave me lots of good advice about knitting and fashion and school. She produced very creative, interesting textiles (that's the fancy, artier word for fabrics), and she inspired me to get back into knitting. Problem is, I still only knew one stitch, along with casting on and casting off, of course. So once again I proceeded to knit scarves, although they were far more creative, and I tried my hand at afghans, because they were way more interesting and useful than scarves, and even though they took longer to make, they were still flat things.
Now why, you may ask, would I, theoretically a fully-formed adult, not seek to learn more stitches? Oh, trust me, my friends, I have. I've bought about a dozen books, but I just can't make sense out of the step-by-step illustrations, as embarrassing as that is. Just can't get the movement. Maybe some day I will YouTube it. But in the mean time, I figured out a secret way to make up for my lameness: specialty yarns. There are yarns out there that are twisted, variegated, fluffy, fuzzy, and even hairy (it's called "eyelash yarn"), and I can make awesome special effects with those, even just using the good ol' garter stitch (I've also taught myself a variation of the garter stitch that pulls out to make long rows, which break things up nicely, but it's still the one stitch. So call me The One-Stitch Wonder, but now I sell my crazy afghans and baby blankets on Etsy, and they are also fairly popular wedding and shower presents in my extended family, so I guess I have managed to overcome my limitations!
Image is close-up photo (a scan, actually) of an afghan I knitted, exhibiting my signature style of different colors and textures. Click for detail!
For more flat things, click here to see my Etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/AllSortsofArt
For regular shenanigans, please follow my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/allsortsofart
