Tarpley Knits

Tarpley came into our shop early November with her Dad. Her birthday was coming up and Dad wanted her to have some knitting lessons. He knew the potential here. That very first Saturday Tarpley was enthusiastic about the color and texture of the yarns in the shop, and was inspired by many of the shop knitted samples. I knew the potential here, too.

I asked Tarpley where she first learned to knit. "I learned when I was 9 and living in France. My family and some other familys rented a chateau for a couple of months. My au pair's hispanic mother taught me to knit while my au pair translated into French for me." Now a wordly almost-13-year old, Tarpley was ready to take her begining knitting skills and leap headlong into the world of creative knitting.

Inspired by a pair of fingerless gloves in the shop, Tarpley decided to make a set of these for a friend. You see the results here.

Then she decided she wanted to learn how to cable. She brought in a 5" square of paper from a knit calendar showing instructions for a premie baby cap with cables. We modified the pattern to fit her head and she was off and running. The following Saturday she walked into the shop, beaming broadly, and showed me the finished gray and white cap knit with angora-like self stripping merino yarn. Cables perfectly aligned, tapering at the top of the hat into a beguiling pattern. Really impressive.

"I love cables," Tarpley announced. "They're not very hard. When you've finished them they look so cool." Now she wanted to make a pair of lacey armwarmers from the Rowan Knit Magazine. She used the same yarn she had made the cap with but added a silky gray sock yarn to meet the pattern's gauge requirements. Her eye for color, texture and style is right on. I have no doubt the next time I see her she will be sporting her new lacey fingerless gloves eager to move onto her next project. There is no stopping her. It's a good thing.