5. Knitting

Another day, another project to start. The summer was coming to an end and the air was starting to feel crisp, especially in the mornings. Jaden had wanted to make a gift for Vervain for a long time now, had picked and brushed and cleaned and carded and drafted and spun and spun and spun until they had three skeins of beautiful green wool yarn. The color coming from a mix of blue and sparkly yellow wool. It had taken Jaden a long time to get the blend just right, practicing with the carding brushes, scraping raw wool into soft and fluffy fiber rolls.

It had also taken a lot of time and practice to perfect their drafting and spinning techniques. Making sure the fibers didn't clump up or stretch too thin and break. Making sure the tension was right, keeping the wheel spinning with a good rhythm. It had all been worth it, and now Jaden had a new challenge to face.

Learning to knit.

Jaden had bought a how-to guide and a pair of sleek wooden knitting needles. Had bent the shopkeeper's ear, asking questions, begging for tips and tricks.

The first day Jaden had brought the supplies home, they had tried starting the yarn on the needle, balancing the skein of yarn and the book in their lap. It didn't start with a bang, but rather the wool slipping off the needles, tangling, and ending up with knots.

Frustrated, and tired (the end of summer was super busy for Jaden and Vervain. Out in the gardens and the orchard, so many fruits and vegetables to harvest, to haul and store and bring to town.) Jaden had put the book and the needles aside, focusing on other things that needed to be done. However, it was less busy now, and they were ready to give it another go.

Getting out the skeins of yarn, the how-to book and the needles, Jaden settled into a comfortable chair. This time they opened the book before picking up the needles, reading the opening chapters. Once they read through the guide, Jaden propped the book up on a side table, opened to the page with the starting diagrams, and only then gathering up the green yarn and the sleek needles.

With careful steady fingers, Jaden began to practice the casting on. It involved starting with a long tail of yarn and making a slipknot, wrapping the yarn around your fingers in a complicated manner and weaving the tips of the needles in and out and around, until you had done it dozens of times and filled one of your needles with loops of yarn. You had to be careful not to make the loops and knots too tight, nor too loose. You couldn't tip your needle tips downward or your loops would slip right off.

After trying and practicing for a good twenty minutes, Jaden finally managed to get the idea down, they could finally smile after all of the struggle. Taking a deep breath, they pulled all of the yarn off of the needle and started again, this time with confidence. Loop and scoop, loop and scoop, loop and scoop. Careful with the tension, don't make it too tight. Fill the needle with stitches …! (They want to make Vervain a big scarf!) Then the next big step, learning the knit stitch.

(WC: 560)