Phase VI-the Last Phase?

OK, it's time to write about the final phase of my needlework life. At least I think and hope it's the final phase, because I enjoy it so much.
My mother first tried to teach me to knit when I was about eight or ten. It was useless; I couldn't figure out the "K1" and "P1" instructions, so every lesson ended in frustration and tears.  I tried again near the end of my teen years; same results.

So I gave up for many years, except for a brief fling with a knitting course that only served to further confuse me. The instructor insisted we must learn to knit the European way, which is backwards to the way I'd seen my mother knit. The yarn from that disaster is still stored upstairs somewhere.

Then, three years ago, my niece-in-law, who was pregnant but thought none of us knew it, asked me if I could knit. I said I couldn't. She suggested we go to a yarn shop anyway, because she suddenly had the urge to make baby things (!) The yarn shop visit hooked me. I began reading all I could about knitting and tackled my first project, which in retrospect I realize was a difficult project, but I didn't know the difference. Ignorance truly is bliss. It was a large baby afghan with various stitches alternating along each row. I did as much raveling as I did knitting, but I forged ahead.

I've been knitting ever since. I've knitted woolen diaper covers for cloth-diapered babies, which I sell on eBay; I've made felted handbags; while in Australia recently I knit a pair of socks; I often knit for afghans4Afghans, a non-profit organization which sends knitted and crocheted woolen hats, mittens, socks and blankets to the children in the high, cold mountains of Afghanistan. I've knit three small Aran sweaters, which were especially fun because of the cables and other stitch designs in them. 

The Baby Surprise Jacket almost became an addiction. I think I made about seven of them. They're knit in one piece, with the only seaming being along the shoulders. Quite an ingenious design by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I love the striped design that emerges as you knit and fold the sweater into its proper shape.

Lest I bore you with too many photos, suffice it to say I'm still knitting: adult sweaters, more felted handbags, more diaper covers, you name it. I have a lot to learn about knitting, but I'm finally realizing it's a manageable needle art to conquer. The house is full of yarn. I brought home 12 more skeins just yesterday, with plans for a cotton t-shirt design for myself and possibly another Baby Surprise Jacket.

I only wish my mother could have lived to know I've finally "taken up the needles" and understand why she was a dedicated knitter all her life.