Knitting

I have discovered knitting! For the past couple of years, I've been trying to find some sort of portable handicraft I can do. Ever since about half-way through college, I've had a lot of problems with my wrists and hands. My dexterity, especially in my left hand, is nowhere where it should be and my hand strength has never really fully recovered either. I've tried cross-stitch (as my mother-in-law is an amazing stitcher!) but it makes my hand cramp very quickly, and I have a difficult time working with the fibers and with smaller gauge fabrics because of my dexterity issues. I can only cross stitch for about 15 min a day, which if you have any experience with that art, you'll know that it will take about 6 years to finish anything at that pace! I've also tried crochet, as that is my mom's handicraft of choice but I find I have a hard time keeping appropriate tension on the yarn and it also makes my hands cramp. I was a little apprehensive about trying knitting, but with being pregnant and all it's made me want to do *something* (pregnancy nesting is so funny!) so I bought a book and taught myself how to do it. To my surprise and delight, I can knit for pretty long periods of time without any problems, and even better, I also enjoy it! I was itching to knit the whole time I was in Portland, but I didn't bring my needles because I thought I might be carrying on my bag. There's a knitting store an easy walk from the hotel I stayed at (yes, I checked ahead of time!) but when I got there I found out that they are closed until September. Yeesh! I was trying to figure out how to steal away and go to The Yarn Garden, but their hours and the times I had to go just didn't coincide very well. Once I got back I started to think about local yarn shops, and through this great new blog I've been reading, Yarn Harlot (hat tip to Julie D.), I found links to two of them. The one in Berkeley looks like it might be fun to visit, but I think I'd be way too intimidated to visit the one in SF. Yeah, yeah, I know - judging a book by its cover and all, and I know knitting isn't just for little old ladies, but still... I think I'd just be too embarrassed to go in and confess that I want to knit baby clothes. I'll have to look around a bit and see if I can find anything closer. I really like the idea of going to a yarn shop rather than just to Jo-Ann's up the street (which has a horrible selection) or to Michael's (with its abysmal service).