High in Fiber: How Knitting Got the Best of Me

I should have known how this would turn out. My needlework had previously been limited to reattaching a button or two, and even those managed to come out looking pretty sad. But when I was growing up, domestic chores involved hammers, rakes and paintbrushes – not fabric swatches or yarn. Still, I figured knitting would be easy enough to learn, and surely leave me with a scarf in no more time than it took to floor an attic.

When I strolled into the Beijing Guild’s weekly meeting for the first time, I was overwhelmed by all of the projects the members were working on: red woolly hats and blue tight-knit gloves, as well as several multicolored quilted blankets. After some haughty observation, I began running through a mental list of what I would soon be crafting. I saw myself spending the cold months bundled up in warm creations of my own hand.

That naïveté vanished as soon as I got the thin, cold needles into my hand. Any hope of discovering a natural talent for knitting was dashed as I found myself struggling to remember basic motor skills. Gripping the soft, lavender yarn alone was a challenge; my tense, cramping hand seemed to anticipate that the pretty pastel string would suddenly spring open if it wasn’t kept under constant control.

I was assisted in my bumbling start by one of the members. She patiently worked with me as I painstakingly tried to hold, let alone maneuver, my needles to create the basic knit and purl stitches. While the rest of the group skillfully led their needles in an elegant, choreographed waltz, mine were dancing a clumsy, uncoordinated number full of tripping and bumped heads. After three hours practicing these different forms, I had managed to produce a measly sample no larger than the palm of my hand. I had also been repeatedly warned that my hunched posture would leave me feeling sore in the morning. (I was now cursing everyone who had ever told me knitting was relaxing. Far from it – at least at the start.)

Given that stark reality check, I rued my choice of a project that probably required more feminine delicacy than I would ever possess and that was sure to take several weeks to finish. Since then, after repeated stops and starts, a scarf is slowly taking form as my hands have begun to accept the contortionist positioning necessary. Incomplete but not forgotten, the project taunts me from its perch next to the dinner table.

The Beijing Guild meets Tuesdays, 1-4pm at locations around town. Email contact@beijingguild.com for more information.

Click here to see the February issue of the Beijinger in full.

Photo: Judy Zhou