Starting Out

It seems like my knitting/crocheting career started long ago and far away. It was definitely long ago -- so long ago that I'm not sure how much of what I remember is real.

I first started knitting when I was in elementary school, back in the late 1950s/early 1960s. My mother taught me, but I also went to a class/classes at the local fabric/yarn shop. Back then, even the small towns had a fabric/yarn shop (back then, even the big department stores and Sears sold yarn!). The LFS/LYS was in the center of town, alongside the small A&P and IGA grocery stores, variety store (penny candy), and drug store (soda fountain). I think the store owner's name was Julie. My mother didn't (still doesn't) crochet...so I sort of learned it on my own in high school. Remember granny square fashions?

I did quite a lot of knitting and crocheting till the early 1980s -- till work really cut into my free time. So I started doing a lot more quilting and sewing -- a creative outlet with more instant gratification. When I retired from full-time work in 2007 I picked up my needles again (yes, I even had a set with the Sears packaging still intact) -- there's a lot more time now, but never enough for all the "quilting, knitting, and other fun stuff."

The oldest FO I could find is this crocheted scrap afghan. Every scrap was used till it was gone -- it's a mix of wool and acrylic -- and it's about 40 years old.

I even have some old yarn from those days. The bag on the right is tagged $4.67 -- that was for the entire bag filled with various colors. The bag on the left is a variety of acrylics, from stores that no longer exist, with prices like $1/4 ounces. The skeins feel (and look) a lot like the leisure suits of the same decade.