Knitting:
An Overview

• Continental Style: Holding the Yarn
• Long-Tail Cast On,
• Knitted Cast On,
• Cable Cast On,
• Knit,
• Purl,
• Seed Stitch,
• I-Cord,
• Increasing,
• Decreasing and
• Binding-off (traditional & crochet).

Before we begin with the stitches, lets take a look at this hobby (for some an obsession, and/or lifestyle)! Knitting is a pastime that used to be attributed to grandmothers. All too often we get an image through the media of an older woman, sitting in a rocking chair on a porch, stitching away on a baby bonnet or something. In some peoples eyes, knitting was definitely not something that any hip, trendy, twenty-something, fashion conscious person would do...right?

Wrong, in the 1990's knitting experienced a renaissance. Thousands of new knitters, young and old picked up yarn and needles and began knitting. Stitch by stitch, we knitters began to understand the intoxicating nature of knitting. The soothing rhythm of the needles, the soft yarn flowing through the fingers, the gratification you feel when you see the yarn being transformed into something tangible. In this instant, knitting becomes more than just something your grandmother used to do...it becomes, something YOU do.

One of the most amazing things I have noticed since I learned to knit is that with the new understanding and respect for knitting, different generations are better able to connect with one another. All over America (and I suspect the world) strangers are linking up with one another and forming chapters of The Knitting Guild Association, local coffee shops are being bombarded with knitters in Stitch and Bitch Groups, mommy sit and stitch play dates are scheduled, Knitting podcasts are created, thousands of blogs are written with a focus on knitting, more and more yarn stores (Local Yarn Shop or LYS) are beginning to pop up around cities and towns and they are holding stitch therapy nights...everywhere you look, knitters are bonding!

Young and old, beginner or designer, it does not matter; what matters is that we are able to unite. We might not understand each other's music or agree on politics or religion but through knitting there is a union that forms and seems as tight as a hand-knit sweater!

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