I think I was in the 4th or 5th class then. At the beginning of the year, the Sister (a nun – I studied in a convent school) who taught us needlework brought in yarn and knitting needles.This year, we would be knitting mufflers, she said. I remember looking at her with my mouth wide open when she made beautiful stitches out of yarn and those two needles. It was like magic. I was hooked. That year, I knitted not one, but several mufflers. I completed the muffler much sooner than I was expected to, so I made my father buy me more wool to make another one. After that was done, I helped a couple of my friends complete theirs. And so the year ended. The next school year, we moved to other projects. There was no use for sweaters or warm stuff in the Tropical climate of my hometown, so I did not knit after that. We moved to higher classes, and our needlework classes disappeared from the class schedule to squeeze in more hours of academics. I forgot all about knitting.
I grew up and went to Seattle, Washington for a year. I saw seasons changing – beautiful spring, warm summer, colourful fall and finally white, snowy winter. And one day, the lady who sat next to me in the bus opened her bag, took out wool and knitting needles, and started knitting. That needlework class from long back came back to me. Very soon, I discovered Michaels (a US craft store) near my apartment with aisles filled with stacks of wool in all colours. I bought a couple of yarns and a pair of knitting needles, went home, and started knitting after browsing through a couple of online patterns and brushing up the old stitches that Sister had taught us. Thank God for the internet!!
I knitted a couple of scarves and hats that year in my free time. I gave up knitting after coming back – there was nothing to make that I could use here, I thought. But I did miss the feel of yarn in my fingers and the click-clicking of knitting needles. Recently, while browsing through some blogs, I came across doilies and other beautiful stuff made of yarn. They were crocheted. Ha! I bought crochet needles, and browsed through a lot of patterns before finding something I wanted. And that is how I taught myself to crochet. I used the pattern from Futuregirl’s craft site (she calls it Starling handbag) and added some flower embellishments. It's a very detailed pattern and she has added a lot of helpful pictures and videos.
Here’s how it turned out.
