This is not a knitting blog. I swear.

I started knitting last autumn, in November I think. My good friend L, with whom I watched Lost every week, is a hardcore knitter, and I was intrigued by the beautiful things she created with just two wooden sticks and some yarn. I was also intrigued by the zen-like state she seemed to achieve while she knit, and so I asked her to teach me.

Little did I know, knitting is an addictive substance.

I tried knitting before, in college, and mostly just sucked at it. I made two scarves, in garter stitch (that's the most boring one), out of really cheap yarn and on cheap needles. They were terrible, and I even had the gall to give one to my mother for Christmas. I'm sure she treasures it because she's a mother and that's what they must do, but sweet Lord, Mom, please feel free to burn it.

This time around I had a dedicated knitting mentor, who even lived right across the street which made it easy for me to run over there and weep joyfully while she showed me how to pick up a dropped stitch. She also encouraged me to move beyond scarves and to learn how to do things like k2tog and ssk, and as a result I've been building up my skills and tackling progressively more difficult projects.

Yesterday I received a shipment of yarn that I ordered online, and I opened up the box and almost died from joy when I saw my yarn. I ordered this really beautiful, light cotton yarn in this wonderful baked red color, and it's just awesome. I was so excited I ran around the house and made all of my in-laws touch the yarn and tell me how awesome it was.

Isn't it joyously beautiful? I would've slept with it last night if B weren't around.

Okay, but seriously, who does that? Who freaks out about how wonderful their yarn is and then posts about it in their damn blog? You know who does that? Knitters. Real knitters. Yesterday when I was swooning over my yarn it suddenly hit me that I've turned into L (not a bad thing) and that I have really started to immerse myself in this crazy world of knitting.

So thank you, L, for teaching me how to knit and for encouraging me to learn new things. And if this turns into a knitting blog, I think everyone knows who is to blame.