In the beginning I started knitting to make sure everyone had a Christmas present that year since the year before I didn't buy for anyone but my daughter as money was tight. I  made everyone a hat and scarf set all in different colors of course, and everyone loved them. Not sure if they loved them because they were home made or because they got something that year.

I wasn't working and it became a way to pass time also. Where I lived didn't allow me a lot of options on baby sitting or work, so I stayed home with my daughter till I could move back into the city. I took my knitting with me, though I set it aside for a while as I started working again.

I really missed it when I started working. I brought it to work with me a couple times but was embarrassed to knit in public at the time so I stopped as I wasn't working on it anyway. I worked on it when I watched my favorite TV show "House" once a week at that point but started to get bored of scarfs and hats.

My mother in law taught me how to knit mittens then, and the small project helped immensely as it didn't take as long to knit a pair of mittens as it took to knit a scarf. Though I remember forgetting to add thumbs a few times when watching "House" on TV and having to rip them apart.

Then a couple years after starting to knit I decided that I was brave enough to make my own sweater. Since I never knit anything for myself at the time and was afraid it would be a disaster I chose to make it for myself. I went to Zellers and bought $40 worth of variegated pink and purpleish yarn and started my journey. Knitting for myself and knitting a big project actually helped me to be brave and start knitting in public. Everyone who seen me knitting it loved it and would compliment me on what a good job I was doing. I actually felt I had a skill all of my own. I could do something all by myself.

Not sure why I felt I couldn't do things on my own before then, maybe I was just looking for something that was all my own.  Not that I couldn't do things on my own, I guess I wasn't following the crowd at the time. Chose a hobby that I could do alone, on my own, and feel good about it.

9 years later I am still in love with the art, and YES it is an art. One that has helped me in ways no one could imagine. Has helped me with my self esteem. Helped me cope with stress and anxiety, helped me get through the hard times when I couldn't concentrate on reading or focusing on the TV for an escape, it has even helped me think through some of the toughest decisions of my life. My prayer for all of you who reads this is that you find an art that helps you create, be yourself, and help you in ways you could never imagined. Sometimes I think knitting has saved my life, silly as it sounds, I don't know what I would do without it!