To Knit the Fanboy Hat

I learned to knit in college. Neither of my grandmothers knit nor does anyone else in my family. My mother claims that my great-grandmother used to knit and crochet, and tried to teach her at one point but it didn't take. Unfortunately, great-gran died when I was a baby, so I was never able to reap her knowledge or even to find out if she really enjoyed it.

I am a self proclaimed nerd, geek, fan-girl, and gamer girl and I was lucky enough to find J who is all those things in male form. I was also lucky enough to find a kindred spirit in college who I could not only discuss my different scifi fandoms with, but who was willing to teach me to knit as well. I will always be greatful to her for this. She showed me the basic cast on/off, knit, and purl stitches and how I could make a really awesome Dr. Who scarf if it took my fancy.

Having been a frustrated painter for most of my angsty teen years, (fan art was hard to market in your teens without benefit of modern day Internet) I found that knitting satisfied my creative impulses. I could take it everywhere with me and it wasn't as messy as paint or bulky as a sketchbook. And past initial surprise at seeing such an "old-fashioned" activity, most people didn't ask me to explain myself past what item I was making.

As it seems to be with all my hobbies and artistic pursuits, I got away from knitting a while after I graduated college. I didn't pick it up again until I went to library school. That's when I discovered the knitter's haven, the yarn shop. My local shop had all kinds of soft and squeezy fibers to fall in love with and I developed a small stash.

I took another short break until I moved in with J, and we started having in-depth dialogues over the directing and writing merits of Joss Whedon. I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer and he loves Firefly. Any friend of a Browncoat know that there is a very famous cunning hat that one of the main characters receives from his knitter mother. It is absolutely ridiculous and too fun for words.

So for Christmas, I will be knitting this for J. I took J to my local yarn store that I had never been to before, and my face lit up at the knitter's table and candy colored skeins of fiber. I could see a light bulb go on in his brain as I asked him to squeeze the yarn I bought. The yarn did not interest him personally, but I feel like he now understands a bit more about me. Now if only he'd start wearing a black leather duster.