Now who is this Fishhead telling me to just knit and not be scared?
Is that the most basic outline? I should think so. I have always been a crafter. My earliest childhood memories include crocheting garments for my favourite teddy bear, called Wolli. “Wolle” means “wool” in German, so the connection apparently was always there. I still have a lot of Wolli’s expansive wardrobe and keep adding to it. In 2016 I handed in my master’s thesis and had little to do but wait for the results, so I decided it was time to finally learn to knit. It had been something I was hoping to learn for a while, but all attempts to get my mother to teach me had failed, so this time I set out on my own with the help of Youtube and this time, it stuck. I haven’t put down the needles since and a day without knitting feels weird. By now, I have become a very fast knitter, to the point of my speed being a running gag among friends. Decide for yourself if you think it’s actually possible or if my needles are possessed by tiny demons knitting for me.
Stranded colourwork was what drew me in from the beginning and, not knowing it was supposed to be hard, among the first five or so things I ever knitted was a Baa-ble hat by Donna Smith. Ever since, I have decided not to believe anyone who said a knitting technique was hard and so far, I have not found one that was hard when actually executed, step by step. There are some I like more then others, of course. But nothing is ever hard, only maybe a little fiddly at times. This mindset for me has extended to modifying patterns and eventually designing my own garments.
My patterns, mostly socks at this point, although I do not more garments, are published for free. In a way, it feels like giving back to the community that got me started. Having a small business on the side is also a bureaucratic nightmare in this country and I’d much rather focus on knitting than on admin work. This is where this blog started from: The wish to share my no-fear approach to knitting and the hope to encourage knitters to just do the thing, not listen to that one person who once found it hard and told everyone to stay away from it.
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