Threads

My mum taught me to knit when I was in my early teens, and I remember my first “project”, a pair of orange and brown patterned legwarmers. Child of the 80s, what can I say? I stuck with the legwarmers, even though they didn’t match anything else I owned, and then started on an equally garish scarf. It didn’t matter to me what I made. My mother was dying of cancer and if I could sit with her and not fidget myself silly, I’d do it. Her favourite thing at that point were lacy triangle scarves, and I kept the one she was working on when she died for many years before I eventually unravelled it.

I’ve never knitted a triangle scarf since. Or another pair of legwarmers. And nearly forty years had to pass before I attempted another scarf.

I took to jumpers in a big way, though, and knocked them out one by one, for myself and others. Knitting, I found, was a great way to occupy my hands while my mind worked, and it’s perhaps no surprise that I started to struggle to get things done when I stopped knitting for a few years.

Fortunately, I discovered cross stitch before I fretted myself to ribbons. I went back to knitting, too, and discovered the joy of making cushions, slippers, and finally blankets. Tunisian crochet needles joined my tool kit.

Only one thing left on my bucket list now: weaving. Which I’m hoping to learn once we’re settled in Northumberland.

I’m a creator at heart, whether that’s books, food, or yarn crafts doesn’t matter. I’m determined to indulge them all.