Knitting

At first, I was reluctant to jump on to the bandwagon, even though Pix makes it look like rather rewarding fun; and more recently I have not wanted to do anything so clichéd as start knitting bootees. But yesterday I went to the funeral of my great-aunt, who was a knitter of some accomplishment, and I snaffled all her needles and some other mysterious knitting-related gadgets, and claimed the blanket and shawl she was knitting for me. It was touching and unexpected to be given them, and I’m very glad that I have these to remember her.

She finished the blanket before she died, and quite honestly I think it is the most exquisitely beautiful piece of craft in the world. The shawl is unfinished, but most of it is done; unfortunately I don’t have the pattern. I spent some time browsing knitting books in John Lewis, trying to find it, but without luck.

I have, however, purchased a book called First Knits, and a couple of cheap balls of wool to practice with. There is a world of beautiful wool out there, but at this stage I need to be able to see what is going on, and those fluffy textiles are likely to cause me problems. I don’t so much drop stitches, as forget to slip the ones I’ve knitted off the needle, which means I end up with a couple of extra stitches, every few rows. I have also managed to get the very simplest knitting pattern in the book wrong twice already. It’s not that I’ve never knitted before, just that I always used to have my granny or my great-aunt around to tell me what to do. I feel a little bit adrift, but will stick with it and not try to run before I can knit a square without unravelling it twice.

One day I hope to have a second cot blanket. I don’t expect it to be as elaborate as the first, but fortunately the baby will be born in June so he might not ever need it.