I once read a blog post where the writer explained how she framed her first attempt at knitting. It was sweet, it was a little uneven swatch of stockinette and garter stitch, up on the wall in a little shadow box. A reminder of where she started. I have a similar reminder. When I was 7 or 8 years old I received a "learn to knit kit" as a gift. I sat down with my mom and my 6 tiny skeins of fluorescent acrylic yarn and cast on for a garter stitch scarf. When I would run out of one colour I would just tie on the next and keep going. When I was done, I had a tiny little scarf, perfect for my beloved stuffed animal Snoopy.
I didn't know how to sew in the ends, so I just braided them together and let them dangle. My garter stitch is 10 stitches wide at some points, 9 stitches at others, and even 12 at others! Almost 20 years later and I still sleep with Snoopy every night. If I go to bed without him tucked under my arm I feel like I am missing a part of me... I know that sounds like a strange thing for an alleged adult to admit, but I'm just so used to having Snoopy with me. I don't travel with him any more after I tragically forgot him at a friends house when I was 5 or 6, I learnt then that it was better to have a bad nights sleep without him then to risk losing him in a lost bag or a hotel room.
Snoopy still comforts me at night, and he still wears that scarf that I knit him years ago. A keepsake of my very first stitches.
