The first time my Mum taught me to knit
(when I was about seven maybe?)
it was with a ball of varigated yarn, the Theory being
that it's good for the New Knitter to see progress
as the colours change row-by-row.
I dropped stitches, made stitches, found it all a bit tedious
and unsatisfying and used the yarn for other things instead -
little yarn people and wrapping the stair banisters in yarn
to create a giant spiders' web in which my siblings and I
put big paper spiders.
We thought we'd get in trouble for the spider's web
(funny how you do it anyway??)
but at that time my parents were in Teachers' College
and my Dad was learning to teach Art
and was thrilled and took photos of it.
This is back in the Olden Days
when camera film cost a fortune
and taking a photo was a big deal.
So the ball of varigated yarn was good value.
I got the hang of knitting the third time my Mum taught me,
when I was seventeen.