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.
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).
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.