Knit and Crochet Blog week, day one

I've seen that some of the bloggers that I read are participating in this event, so I thought I would join in too. It seems like fun!

The idea is that the participants answer one crafts-related question every day for a week. To find other participants, try searching for the tag knitcroblo1 through knitcroblo7, one for each day, and there is also a wild card question if one day's question doesn't spike your muse, that search word is knitcroblowc) in google, then you should find all the entries.

Anyhow, the first day's question is this:

"Starting Out

How and when did you begin knitting/crocheting? was it a skill passed down through generations of your family, or something you learned from Knitting For Dummies? What or who made you pick up the needles/hook for the first time? Was it the celebrity knitting ‘trend’ or your great aunt Hilda?"

Ok, the first time I ever knitted was actually in middle school (I think in 5th or 6th grade) in the crafts lessons. I knitted a ribbed hat in the round, I remember it was grey and pretty itchy, and it has since disappeared into some forgotten realm or similar. Then in the spring of 2007 me and some of my girlfriends celebrated the international women's day by having a coffee and cake-night, and one of the girls knitted. It looked like so much fun, but unfortunately I had just broken my hand and had a huge (pink) cast on, so I caould only watch. Then it took quite some time until she showed me again, but I think it was some time in the Autumn of 2007. And for Christmas that year I got the Vogue knitting book from my parents, and from then on I was hooked.

Then in the Autumn of 2008 my dear kitty Gizmo died, and I couldn't knit for a long time. He always used to lie in my lap while I knitted, and loosing him was just horrible to me. It was the trigger for a very long and dull depression (that is now under control after therapy and medication), so I didn't pick up my knitting until the summer of 2009 again. Then I decided to take the knitting by the horns and just get on with it, as I knew that I loved it beneath all that sorrow. At the same time I started this blog, discovered the Linköping knitters group (we're the gang that meet up at different cafés in town and knit together), and realised for the first time that knitting was HUGE online! I got my Ravelry membership, and since then I haven't looked back :)

I've developed a huge fiber addiction (I think I counted my stash that I've listed on Ravelry, and I have about 250 skeins of yarn there. And I have some that I actually haven't bothered to add to Ravelry as it's cheap, boring acrylics that I won't use for a long time anyway), and I don't do much else but knit in my free time. I love it, my husband is very tired of it :)

So there you have it. My knitting history. See you tomorrow for the next question!

/ Jenny