SLIP 1, KNIT 5
In Coronous times, 4 mm pins are a girl’s best friend. In early March, while Messrs Johnson and Cummings were debating the economic advisability of plunging the country into lockdown, one of my numerous marketing emails sent me an offer. I live life vicariously like that – my window-shopping window opens on my laptop.
Back to the offer. Wool less than half price. And in colourwheels!
I have been knitting since the time Indira Gandhi was assassinated. National crises seem to seek out the knitter in me. Or maybe I’m just channelling Madame Defarge.
In India, I would buy skeins, spend two days winding the yarn into balls before I could get out the needles. Balls were coveted, bought only when the son was due. And these were not even balls, they were wheels – iridescent, flamboyant, in-your-face colourwheels.
In short, these were yarns that I usually sighed over, lusted over and then clicked Close Window over, my funds never having run to more than the wool stall lady in the Swansea Marchnad. So, for once, I clicked Add to Shopping Basket.
When the wool arrived, even the husband forgot to insert his usual caustic comment on my profligacy.
Just then, J&C Ltd announced lockdown opportunely. And so it began. Parents on their own in Noida. Son all alone in Geneva. Ma-in-Law coping without her daily help. The sudden cut-off from my walking group, coffee group, crochet club, book club, gym. All my worries and more besides knitted into scarves and caps. I found myself casting around (see what I did there?!) for people to knit for.
Scarves are my thing just now. And caps for adventure. Scarves are simple, no shaping, just choose a pattern and knit till you reach six feet. Keeps the mind occupied without replenishing the worry store. Keeps my fingers occupied on my daily Netflix binge. No chocolates please, it’ll get the yarn dirty. But more on that later.
Five scarves and four caps down the line, lessons have been learnt. That when the world is disintegrating around me, I’ll opt for knitting rather than crochet. That garter stitch is the easiest stitch in the world, but my nemesis when done over six feet. That you should slip over the first stitch on every row for a clean edge. That it’s better to cast on a scarf with a needle that’s a size larger to keep the edges from curling up. That you should not iron a piece of knitting.
Corona – what’s that?
