{"id":5824,"date":"2015-04-05T07:00:10","date_gmt":"2015-04-05T06:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=5824"},"modified":"2015-04-05T07:00:10","modified_gmt":"2015-04-05T06:00:10","slug":"knitting-up-a-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=5824","title":{"rendered":"Knitting up a story"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"My<\/a>
My first attempt at knitting something for a baby. You can’t see the mistakes… can you?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is my latest knitting project \u2013 it\u2019s a pretty baby jacket. I\u2019ve never knitted a baby thing before, and there was a very good reason I suddenly had to knit this.<\/p>\n

As an author, I draw on real-life experiences in my stories and my characters.<\/p>\n

In real life \u2013 I travel a lot for my day job and am cautious about being out, alone, in a strange city at night. Especially when I may not speak the language.<\/p>\n

Therefore, I spend a lot of time in hotel rooms, where there TV channels are usually not in my language either.<\/p>\n

And I knit.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s great for the RSI I sometimes get from spending too much time at a computer keyboard, but it is also very very relaxing after a hard day\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

I knit at home too \u2013 mostly things for myself or a friend, because webmaster John doesn\u2019t like knitted things. There is also a rumour that I hand knitted a lovely colour co-ordinated blanket in pure wool for my cat. Just a rumour of course. Along with the rumour about me knitting blankets for rescued koalas.<\/p>\n

\"Orphan<\/a>
Orphan koalas need something to snuggle up to. I can knit that.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So \u2013 when I started writing Quinn \u2013 the heroine of my new book The Wild One, I discovered that she too spends a lot of time away from home, in hotels or campsites. She needed something to relax her, so she knits.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a secret story behind her knitting. A terribly sad story that has left her emotionally scarred. Knitting is her way of dealing with her pain. The knitting becomes a symbol of her pain \u2013 and her eventual escape from her past.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A work in progress – book and knitting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This jacket is not the one Quinn knits in the book. She is a far better knitter than I am. But I wanted to knit it so I could understand how long it takes, and how detailed the work might be.<\/p>\n

I love this pattern \u2013 the front lace panel is removable and I could knit several panels in different lace patterns, or even different colours. As for the buttons \u2013 I may yet use the leftovers on a grown-up item for myself. I found the pattern here.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"I<\/a>
I love the pretty colours in the buttons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So \u2013 for all the knitters out there, this book is for you. Keep those needles flying, because in today\u2019s world, too many old crafts are being lost. And there\u2019s a lot to be said for looking at something beautiful and saying \u2013 Wow \u2013 I did that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is my latest knitting project \u2013 it\u2019s a pretty baby jacket. I\u2019ve never knitted a baby thing before, and there was a very good reason I suddenly had to knit this.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-knitting","category-writing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7g6jm-1vW","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5824\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}