First Day, First Post

This is my First Post in my First Blog on the First Day of the New Year, 2007. I figured today would be a good day to start a blog, so here I am, joining the ranks of those who write about whatever takes their fancy.

My particular fancy is knitting. I am a "picker", meaning I knit Continental style, holding the yarn in my left hand. I also try never to knit with straight needles; for some reason, I just don't like them. I use circulars almost exclusively for projects, whether knitted in the round or flat. I guess I just don't like long needles. They are awkward to handle and they make my hands and arms ache after a while, so I just don't use them. If I have to knit on straight needles, I prefer the shorter ones, but that's a rare occasion.

I just started knitting last February, teaching myself from places on the Internet. Now I'm absolutely hooked and knit whenever I can. I've joined a local Stitch'n Bitch group and met some really great people. We meet once a week at a local coffee house and have a great time stitching and bitching together. I've learned so much from reading blogs on the 'net and from knitting groups on various sites and sometimes I just want to talk about what I'm doing. I also hope this will be like an online journal of my projects; that way I can keep track of what is finished, especially since I can't remember everything I've done this year and I didn't write a thing down.

I started out planning to keep a knitting journal, writing everything down about projects I start. I wanted to include a swatch, the ball band, info on the project and who I knitted it for (if it wasn't for me, that is...). But that plan went by the wayside quickly. It's much more fun to knit than it is to write about knitting. I hope that doesn't mean this blog will go by the wayside, too, but for some reason, I find it easier to type than to actually put pen to paper and fill out a paper journal.

So here I am, typing my thoughts into a brand-new forum for me and hoping it makes me keep track of my knitting life. Feel free to add your thoughts at any time. I am open to all kinds of communications and/or constructive (please) criticisms with regard to what I write here. I will try to keep it as interesting as I can, but I'm warning you, I can be very boring sometimes and I don't always realize it, so if it gets really bad, let me know. I'll do what I can......
Ellen