Kat Heim; first post

Hi, I’m Kat! I have to admit that I’m not a huge fan of unstructured assignments.  Before starting this assignment, I was knitting and listening to Post Malone. Since I get way too excited about Post Malone and I have no other ideas, I guess I’ll talk about knitting.  

I started knitting when I was in ninth grade; unlike the typical learning how to knit stories, I didn’t learn from my grandma.  I started to learn how to knit in my math class. At the time, it was a flipped classroom, meaning we watched lecture videos at home and did the homework the next day in class.  Since I lacked hobbies, I almost always did the homework right after I watched the lectures at home, leaving me with nothing to do during my 80 minute class period. When I was twelve, my grandmother bought me a beginners knitting set for my birthday.  It collected dust in my room for three years before I had the drive to teach myself how to knit. One night after completing the math homework and trying to think of something to do, I noticed the knitting kit and made a firm decision that I was going to learn how to knit.  My math teacher asked me not to bring my knitting back to class, so I only spent one day in school learning how to knit, but it’s still a fun story to say that I started knitting during class instead of from a grandparent.  

When I first started knitting, I was truly terrible at it as most people are.  The written instructions were absolutely terrible, so I turned to YouTube videos to supplement my efforts. Through this, I became competent with casting on and off, and the most basic stitch.  Although not really that impressive, I was absolutely ecstatic that I had managed to pick up a new skill almost on my own. During the next year, I practiced a lot and made lots of scarves and a couple of blankets.  I was happy with my completed projects, but I had also begun to branch out on the internet to look at what else could be knit. I discovered lots of new styles of knitting and different stitches. I got really excited about being able to build on my knowledge and I totally overwhelmed myself.  After getting a little burned out, I took a break; after a couple of months of not knitting, I was anxious to start a new project, but I was sure that I wanted to make something that wasn’t just garter stitch. My new plan was to start a project that incorporated only one new skill at a time. 

After I followed through with my plan, my knitting skills began to develop rapidly again, as they had when I had first started knitting.  Beginning with purl stitch, I worked my way up to rib stitch and cabling, knitting in the round for socks and hats, and then learning different variations of stitches and skills that when completed together made a much more interesting final product.  Knitting has become a much larger part of my life than I had ever expected it to. I love to learn and I’m really glad that I found somewhere enjoyable to put that energy.