Left-handed knitting

I have been taught to knit approximately seven to ten times. The first time was in my tender youth, and taught by none other than my grandmother. Seems that if someone can successfully be taught how to knit, it would be by a grandmother. Not so. If I remember correctly, she actually counts for lessons one through three, but even though she was both talented and patient, it never stuck.

Fast forward to overnight summer camp where I was taught once again by a visiting middle aged English woman. She was very kind, but was unable to take me over to the knitting side. Maybe I was intimidated by her accent and frequent John Donne quotes. I took a break for a while and then tried to take up knitting again one cold and depressing January during my sophomore year of college. I got a little farther, but I never made it past the knit stitch, and soon lost interest as my friends returned from winter break.

When knitting became "cool" again after then celebrity best friends "Nonnie and Gwynnie" started knitting scarves for their then celebrity boyfriends "Matt and Ben," I took up knitting again. I took a class at a San Francisco knitting store and the woman was rather unhelpful. She found my left-handedness minimally distasteful and maximally an affront to all knitters everywhere. In an act of left-handed solidarity, I stubbornly refused to listen to anything she said.

The knitting breakthrough finally came about four years ago. My friend C. is an avid and talented knitter. I went to her with my troubles, and she agreed to intervene. We set the date, a quiet Sunday afternoon, and I arrived with both a high sense of excitement and doom. I had been conditioned to believe that I knitting and I were never meant to be friends, but I also had a sense that this time somehow might be different.

I was correct. C. did not chastise me for being left-handed. In fact she very kindly and earnestly went through each step with me over and over until I finally got it. Starting with "the pretzel" (basically the slipknot one used to cast on) and taking me all the way through into knit and purl, C. never made me feel inadequate. In fact she made knitting quite fun. Suddenly it seemed easy. Or at least manageable. Finally, finally, finally, I could knit!

I've taken a few classes since then (I highly recommend "fixing mistakes") at various different knitting stores and they have certainly been helpful. Even so, I'm still pretty novice, and I've come to reconcile the fact that I'm probably never going to be a "great" knitter. It's just not in my spatial make-up. I do however aspire to be a "good" knitter. I don't need to make intricate multi-patterned adult sized sweaters, but I would like to be able to whip up the occasional baby sweater or pom pom hat when the urge or babyshower hits.

An ease with knitting has not happened yet, but I am willing to be patient. Afterall, it took me quite a few years to get where I am now, what's a few more? I am particularly hopeful because C. and I are once again living in the same city. I am grateful for this for many reasons, but knitting assistance is certainly one of them. I have already put in a request for help on a baby sweater, and I have high hopes. It may take a while, and it may not be perfect, but at least I will have fun.