On Knitting with the Geek

I love knitting things for friends and relatives--at least, when I don't already have four or five projects going for myself. I've been dating the Geek for almost three and a half years, and for the first three of those years, he didn't want me to knit him a damn thing. He just doesn't like wearing knitted things. He did ask me once early on for a sweater, but I told him about the sweater curse and he decided that wasn't such a good idea. I have made him a couple of plushies, but these days I'm much more comfortable knitting wearable things. So I've been waiting a while for him to think of something he wants me to make him, that I can readily make.

One of the plushies, a friendly slime from Dragon Quest.

Then, a few months ago, he bought a knitted necklace for his mother at an art festival. He sent me a picture and asked me how hard it would have been to make.

I said, "Not hard at all. It's just I-cord."

"So you could make yourself one? It would look good on you."

"I have no interest in knitting myself a necklace. But if you make me one, I'll wear it."

And that's where we left the conversation for a while. Then, a few weeks ago, he asked me to teach him to make I-cord.

I was stunned. I never thought he'd actually take me up on my offer. But I was not going to pass up the opportunity. The next time I visited the Geek, I dug out some rough wool and two double-pointed needles from the stash I'd left at his place when I moved to Seattle, and showed him a knitted cast-on and how to knit I-cord. He picked it up quickly, but worried constantly about whether he was getting it right and how uneven it looked. I reassured him: he was doing fine, the mistakes he was making are all things I know how to deal with, and things he'll stop doing with practice.

The updates he sent me over the next few weeks felt amazing. He was knitting in meetings to keep himself from getting distracted. His work got neater and more even. He started coming up with ideas for future projects. The best one was when I texted him to remind him to do something, and he replied "After I finish this row."

He's one of us now.

Shortly before my most recent visit, he ran out of yarn for I-cord and asked for help starting squares for a blanket. I found another skein in my stash that I didn't particularly like, but that was softer and prettier than the first yarn, and walked him through making a gauge swatch, casting on a square, and how to not make extra stitches by accident.

It's coming along nicely. I invite him to comment with pictures if he wants to.