My First Knitting Vol. 2: Interview with Writer Soya Oikawa

― What made you want to try knitting?

Harumi Hashimoto was someone I admired, and he was the one who, in the 80s, purposefully spread the idea of "knitting for men."
In an era when knitting was seen as something only for women and difficult to do, he published a book called "Harumi Hashimoto's Guide to Knitting" where he said knitting was easy and that men could do it too.
His works, like a huge knitted face of David Bowie, were all so cool.
He loved Versace and wore Versace for all his casual clothes, but he also wore a Kintetsu Buffaloes baseball cap, which was very stylish, and my admiration for him was strong.
So, I always vaguely wanted to try knitting.

― Was your connection to fashion also a big factor?

I also liked knitwear as a fashion item. When I was young, I liked the knitwear brand Invarallan.
I couldn't afford it in the end, but the fact that the Inverallan tags from Scotland had the knitter's signature felt special.
Someday I'd like to challenge myself to make a cable-knit cardigan.

― When you actually started knitting, how did you feel at first?

I liked repetitive tasks and repetitive music, so I thought it would probably suit me. But it was definitely hardest until my body got used to the work.

― What did you feel while knitting the scarf?

The worst part was not knowing what was happening when I made a mistake.
Even if I could fix it, I had no idea what steps were needed or how long it would take.
Waves of unknown problems would just roll in, and well up from within me. It was a kind of ordeal I hadn't experienced in a while.
I'd think, "Ugh," but it's not like I had a deadline, and there was no penalty for making mistakes. Yet, anger and shame about not being able to do it right just kept surfacing.

But the interesting thing is, after making several mistakes, even if I couldn't understand the pattern of error logically, I could feel it with my fingers, or see it from the angle and perspective, or understand it from the feel of the yarn.
I probably still don't understand the organizational structure, but my sense of warning that I would make a mistake if I kept knitting grew sharper and sharper.

About 80% of my mistakes probably happened when I turned at the end of a row, but after a certain point, I stopped making mistakes there.
It's not like my daily life changed drastically just because I could do that, but I was so happy and felt a sense of accomplishment for acquiring the knack of not making mistakes with my fingertips.

Perhaps, when you continue repetitive practice, like with playing the guitar, pressing the chords is difficult at first, but once you learn it, it's fine.
It was similar to that; it was very interesting to realize that this is what it means for your body to remember something when you keep doing it.

― What was the latter half of the 5-month knitting process like?

Once I got the hang of it, it was just a battle against tendinitis, so if it weren't for the pain, I probably could have done it for hours a day.
While I was doing it, I listened to the radio or music, and I really stopped making mistakes in the latter half.

For the last two months or so, knitting every day was a truly enjoyable two hours.
Knitting time also became a relaxing time for me.
Once I got used to it, it was like driving a car; I could listen to music or the radio and think about various things at the same time.

It didn't have to be every day, but having time for knitting in my daily rhythm felt so comfortable that I wanted to continue it.

― Is there anything you'd like to knit in the future?

When I was 20, studying shoemaking in London, I once made and sent a pair of shoes to a close friend. When I returned to Japan a few months later and visited my friend's house, I saw that the shoes were worn out, even though only about three and a half months had passed since I gave them to her.
She said she was incredibly happy, and that feeling of someone being delighted by something I made is unforgettable.
When I knit something, I think, "They'll definitely be happy if I give them this."

― Specifically, would you like to give a gift to someone?

Hmm, I guess I'd want to give a gift to someone I'm close to.
Since the scarf has a lot of my first feelings in it, I think I'll keep it for myself, but I'd like to knit something while thinking about the person I'm giving it to as a gift.

Most of all, I wanted to knit a present for my parents.
I don't usually get to give handmade gifts, so it ends up being something I bought, but thinking about it that way, knitting is really great because it's easy to start.