Zen and the Art of Knitting

This little book was part of a recent gift from my dear and highly talented friend Sandra Eterovic, who has encouraged me in my faltering attempts to learn to knit. My mother, an accomplished knitter, taught me the basics years ago, but I've only ever made the simplest of scarves. 

I took up the needles last year to make another simple scarf: a Hufflepuff pattern, for Evie. 

Then Alice wanted me to knit her a jumper. 'I can't do that!' I said, but she overrode my objections and I unravelled a huge, neglected scarf I'd made for her years ago and to my own surprise, managed to make a passable jumper out of it (with a little assistance form my mum). 

I was hooked. I bought a book (of course! It's Knitting for Beginners, by Sasha Kagan) and taught myself to decipher knitting patterns. I made loads of squares of different stitches with magical names (moss stitch, trinity, cable, basketweave, seed stitch) and sewed them together to make a rug for the dog. I even knitted a dog pattern into the centre square!

 And now I'm making another blanket, a huge one, for Alice. (As you can see, there is still some distance to go!)

It doesn't involve anything complicated, just hundred and hundreds of little squares. I can't watch TV now unless I have my needles in my hands. Just as Bernadette Murphy's book says, I find the process of knitting to be calming, satisfying, almost spiritual. My ambition is to be a creative knitter, not a pattern-follower; I'm still at the very beginning of my journey.

The other part of Sandra's gift was a leather case containing dozens of knitting needles, which once belonged to Betty Collins, the mother of another friend. Betty was a lovely, generous lady, who died several years ago. Though she wasn't a particularly keen knitter, she was efficient, and she accumulated the needles of other knitters in her church community when they died. So now they have all passed to me -- a wonderful collection of all sizes, colours and materials. I'm now using a pair of small, smooth, pink, bakelite needles which are much easier on my back than the long bamboo pair I started with. It's a wonderful thing!

Goodbye Betty

Betty Collins was one of the loveliest women I have ever known. Unfailingly kind, generous and positive, she was the kind of person who made you feel better just by walking into the room. She trained and worked as a pharmacist in an era where such a career was extremely unusual for a woman. She faced many hardships, including the sudden death of one husband and the slow decline of another, with faith, cheerfulness and courage. She was a dearly loved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, and a loving and thoughtful friend to many. She died last week on her 81st birthday.

She was the mother of my friend David, and Michael's friend Marg. If not for Betty, Michael and I would never have met, so I have particular reason to be grateful to her. But I'm also grateful just for having known her. Thank you, Betty.