Purl, Knit, Purl, Knit. - It's like riding a bike..

Swedes are big on handicrafts and most know how to both knit and crochet.  My girlfriends have all become knitting queens over the past few years and I keep teasing them that life has come full circle and they've become "kärringar',  like old hags.

Three years ago, two of my girlfriends convinced me that I should knit a Sampler Afghan, consisting of 99 squares, that they had both completed.   We drove up to  Myrtle Station Wool & Ferguson's in North Durham and purchased the yarn.

In Sweden, we learned how to knit and crochets in elementary school, and even though it had been over 25 years since I had used a pair of knitting needles, it didn't take too long to master the skill again.  I spent the next three months knitting,  and finished 20 squares, but lost interest.  I stuffed it all into my knitting basket and forgot about it until this week.

Last night, I was invited to my girlfriend's Stitch and Bitch.  I dug out my knitting project and spent an hour watching "how to knit" on YouTube to refresh my memory.  The most difficult part is learning how to read "English" patterns, since my knitting vocabulary is in Swedish.

Knitting is like riding a bike; once you learned it, you won't forget.  You're just a bit rusty.

It amazes me that I CAN actually knit.  I've been telling people for years that I don't know how.

One day, I'll look back at my sampler blanket and I'll be able to see the progression from square 1 thru 99.

It will not be a perfect blanket but a representation of my "learn-to-knit" project.