New hobby?

I learned how to knit today. But I didn't learn how to troubleshoot my knitting. I arrived home from my hour long knitting tutorial with a 20-loop square halfway completed. So after putting Cavan to bed, I turned on the Biggest Loser finale and broke out the knitting needles. An hour (and five more rows) later, I notice a hole in the middle of my almost-done square. Yes, I only got five rows done in an hour. Coaxing yarn around two sticks is more difficult than it looks.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to design and templates. I'm the type of person who likes grids and symmetrical spacing. I tried to ignore the hole, but I knew it was futile. So I attempted to pull out the yarn to eliminate the mistake—I obviously missed a loop somewhere. But I could not reinsert the needles back into the square. Frustration.

What I should have done is put the mangled patch, the needles and the yarn back into a bag and consulted my school librarian, aka my knitting teacher, tomorrow. But instead I just pulled the string really hard until the remaining rows unraveled into a pile. Back to square one, literally.

This is a pretty fun pastime—a nice activity to enjoy while Hubby is watching the Yankees, the Knicks, the Giants, golf. But I learned how to crochet when I was a kid and my vague memory tells me that the single hook was much easier to maneuver than the double needles. It takes nimble dexterity to dance with those twin sticks.

What to do? Give knitting another try tomorrow? Ask my librarian to quickly rebuild my square for me so I don't feel like I lost my first day's effort? Stick with it for a whole blanket and practice the skills? Or switch back to crocheting now? Or forget the whole thing and realize that I already have more to do than time in the day. After all, a textile hobby will likely eat into my blogging budget. These are the decisions my cooked brain is debating at midnight when I should be sleeping.