Sockittome Contest

HOW I LEARNED TO KNIT
When I was a very young girl, I want to say starting around age 5, my Dad's sister would give me a strange octagonal cardboard box each Christmas, Inside was a plastic knitting spool(with 4 prongs) two thin (maybe size 4) plastic knitting needles and three small balls of yarn. In each ball was maybe 12 feet of yarn, the needles were perhaps 8 inches long and had a molding seam up the side. I remember the seam hurt. I would just toss this gift aside, my aunt knit, she was unmarried and an old lady(to me), why would I want to do that? Then one year, maybe around the age 9 or 10, I took all the small balls of yarn I had accumulated and tied them together and rewound them. I had been watching my Mom's Mom knit for some time and reading the instructions that came in that odd octagonal cardboard box and started. I cast on several times and finally when the stitches did not fall off the needle I knit! Now need I say I was bit by the bug? But at that age, with no funding and approximately 100 feet of yarn what was I to do? I ripped and cast on, knitted and ripped and cast on. Get the picture? I finally used the yarn on the spool and made a somewhat long scarf for Barbie. I didn't knit until I was in junior high after that, I had money and would always knit or crochet during study hall at school. It was during the granny square craze and I could make one of those pullover vests during two study halls. I was so cool. Then I discovered the world of dating and of course knitted hats were a good gift.My children came into the picture many years later and a new avenue for knitting opened...up to that point nieces and nephews were the recipients. I recall a time when DS1 was at a camp and DS2 and I went to pick him up. The boys are 5 1/2 years apart in age. DS2 had on a sweater that DS1 had outgrown. DS1 came running towards me shouting( I thought words of happiness for our presence). He was shouting "Why is he wearing my sweater? I was saving that for my children". DS2 never wore another outgrown sweater and I knew my knitting was as integral in their lives as it was in mine. The boys are big now, both well over 6 feet tall and more yarn is required for their sweaters...but every so often they still request a hat or gloves or...and you can be sure that request will become the current WIP at once.I am not yet 50, soon, and have only been involved in blogs for almost a year. I was a lone knitter and now swaps and Kals are an important part of my knitting life. I love seeing what people are making and sharing knitting wealth through swaps. I am so impressed with us as a group and the charity work we are willing to do. Knitting time is precious and to give that to a cause or a person you don't know speaks volumes about our capacity to give.So, that is how I learned to knit and I am proud to be a knitter.