JG-Leaves-layered-shadow-half-size.png

The accidental knitter

l knitted this ruffled orange scarf with yarn bought in Montreal, Canada

 

A funny thing happened a couple of months ago – I became a knitter.

It started like this….  I was in Canada, looking for a birthday present for a friend of mine who is Canadian but lives in the U.K. I thought a Canadian present might be nice.

My friend has been known to knit. Many years ago, I did a bit of knitting too, and it occurred to me that I could buy some wool in Canada and knit my friend an “Australian-made” hand-knitted Canadian Scarf.

I did and she liked it.

Not only that – I really enjoyed knitting it. Travelling as much as I do, I spend a lot of time in hotel rooms – and this seemed a great way to pass the time.

A couple of weeks later, my work took me to Cincinnati – where I bought some fabulous wool.

I bought this fab-u-lous chunky wool in Cincinati and a shop with a very fat and very friendly cat.

Then I found myself in Miami were I bought some red ribbon yarn.

Last week, in Texas… well…  you get the idea.

Every yarn store I have visited has been staffed by the most wonderful people – friendly and welcoming.

There is always a big table where women (and the occasional brave man) sit around knitting and talking. They are quite happy to teach me a new stitch and help me decipher a pattern.  I have been invited to join them for coffee, wine and even dinner.

It certainly has made my travels a little less lonely, and I now have some unique souvenirs of the places I have been.

So – in very short space of time I have knitted a pullover, a shrug, a shawl, two hats and seven scarves (including the one I gave to my friend).

It’s hard to believe I knitted this crazy lacy scarf – but I did!

I’ve dropped some stitches that I meant to drop – and a few I didn’t. I’ve even learned to knit a hole – deliberately!

Not only that, but a character who is going to appear in my next novel has started looking over my shoulder while I knit. She thinks it looks like fun. She travels a lot on her job as well, and by the time she finally gets out of my head and onto a typed page – I’ve got a funny feeling she may just have become a knitter.

If she’s lucky, I might share some tips with her.