Past Projects: How I Got Started

I've been knitting or crocheting since college (1996 or so). My mom knew some crochet and I remember making a scarf the long way with some old 70s earthtones chenille and a big-ass needle, and making a hat for a friend out of some light blue chenille. But I thought crochet was too limiting and thanks to the then-relatively-novel Web, found some online knitting instructions with pictures and taught myself on pencils. A friend saw me (I worked at the computer center, the whole school saw me :) and helped me out with real needles and advice, and I don't think I ever crocheted again. I didn't knit often; for a few years, I'd make a scarf for someone for christmas and then not knit again until the next November--I remember doing so for an aunt (green big-needle chenille), another aunt (gray big-needle chenille), and my sister (periwinkle medium-needle chenille). I knit more often now but the christmas-scarf pattern remains:

My niece, wearing her new scarf. Knit in 1x1 rib with doubled-up purple and blue polarspun I had on hand. Used something like size 10 needles. Her other favorite color is pink, so I got that bright pink yarn for the blanket-stitch trim at Michael's. It was wormy, extremely messy, and broke easily, but damn was it ever pink, and the accent really popped the colors of the polarspun. I'll update this post with the name so nobody else will ever have to use it again.