Knitterly things you may or not know about me

1. I first started to knit at age 8 - 9 with my mother's guidance. My first project was a colorful stripped top that was knitted using leftovers yarns. I still have the wonderful momentous in memory.
2. I cast on my stitches with my left hand though I am right handed. That's because mother is left handed. I don't knit the same way as her and I am afraid to say that there is not a name for my knitting style. It doesn't seen to fit any of the styles I have seen or heard in the tutorials.
3. My mother taught me the basics of knitting using Japanese knitting books. Tough she didn't know Japanese either, she was able to decipher the basic instructions. From there, I picked up mostly by looking at the few illustrations in the books. I would miss hours of sleep just to understand the charts.
4. My first knitting project for a crafting class in middle school was to knit a baby cardi with lace pattern and a pair of matching booties. The instructions were written in Portuguese and there weren't any chart. I still remember that the teacher praised my lovely top but didn't say anything about the booties, tough she checked it all over. I couldn't knit the booties well, they turned out to be too big compared with the size of the top.
5. I have never knitted a pair of socks. Both the instructions in English or the Japanese charts discourage me. I was wondering if this has a link with my first booties!
6. The mending of my early projects were all done by my mother. I wasn't good at this task and I am still not. I seem to have improved a little these days that I have no choice but to do it by myself.
7. I basically only knit with straight needles. I prefer these old style needles over the circulars ones. I tried to switch but can't seem to enjoy them as much as my old needles. For some reason, with circulars my stitches get stuck by the end of the needles and I have to push each of them through.
8. I've never knitted a project using patterns written in English. Mostly of my knits are designs from Japanese books that I am more familiar. After so many years using schematics and charts from these books, I find it very hard to follow instructions word by word.
9. My addiction is not only to yarn but to knitting books as well. I have this urge to have them as soon it's out in the bookstores' shelves. I often check in the internet to see if a new issue has been released. Nowadays, I have the impression that the bookstore or LYS people recognize my voice since I call so often to check for my books arrival. My books are like collectible for me and I take good care of them . Most of my Japanese knitting books have plastic covers.
10. I used to enjoy knitting very intricate pattern, the more complicated the merrier. My selections would fall for the designs that had the highest level of difficulty. Nowadays, I don't like to take knitting challenges and will only knit patterns that I predict I won't have much trouble.

I am about to have an FO, so stay tuned for my next post. ;)