Every few years I decide to take up knitting again. I knit a few scarves and then move on to another hobby. This year I decided to take a class. (I love taking classes!)
As most of us in the beginning class knew a little something about knitting already, we each decided to make a cowl. Here’s how it goes: Cast on 70 stitches. Join. Knit while the working yarn is thin; purl when the working yarn is thick. Bind off.
How hard can it be?
hahahahahahahaha
Here’s what I ended up with.
Cowl in progress. Looking okay.
Finished cowl. Not so sure about it now.
I was so proud of myself for finishing the cowl before the second class, that is, until I showed my work to the instructor. She was very nice; one of those who murmurs, “Well, isn’t that interesting.”
One problem I had is that I didn’t know what it was supposed to look like. Somehow the instructor hadn’t shown us the shop sample in the first class. Oh.
Shop sample. Mine doesn’t look anything like it.
Where did I go wrong? Probably in more than one place, from the looks of it. I bought another skein of yarn and tried it again.
My second effort.
Here are both cowls, the first effort on top. I’m not sure what to do with the first one. It’s too short to be a hula skirt.
It's a long story ... 
“if at first…” I love it! I tried knitting, but in a very short time the stitches were so tight I couldn’t move them on the needle. I decided I was too tense, so I switched to crochet, which seemed to work better — probably because the stitches didn’t stay on the needle. But now I have trouble because the humidity makes the yarn stick to my skin which is irritating. I keep trying to find some simple craft I can do (meaning not needing a lot of space or equipment) that will relax me, not make me worse!
Keep searching. I think that’s what I’m really doing, anyway: searching.