mittens yesterday. They were in a sorry state. No, I could not mend them.
The owner sighed and said, "Didn't really think you could."
I know the owner can knit so I suggested, "You could make yourself some more."
"I've never made anything like this," was the plaintive reply.
"Well, it is time to try."
"I haven't got a pattern." I can hear such unreasonable excuses a good kilometre away.
"I have - and anyway there are plenty of patterns on Ravelry."
(For those of you who don't know it this is quite possibly the best free site for knitters on the internet. It is an extraordinary resource for both patterns - some free and others which can be bought - and information about knitting and crochet.)
"And I haven't got anything..."
Before the words were uttered I said, "I have something almost identical to that yarn left over from the sale the other day."
I found the yarn, even the colour was virtually the same.We sat down to explore Ravelry on the mitten owner's i-pad. Oh yes, mittens come in all shapes, sizes, colours, stitches and fanciful designs. There are mittens shaped like mice and owls, mittens with cats (I love those) and flowers, snow scenes, geometric wonders and then just the plain and sensible.
We found the right size of yarn and the right size of hand and then,
"Hey, that's the pattern! Look! It is! It's exactly the same! It's just what Mum used!"
The pattern is old. It is also free. We print it off. The knitter thanks me and heads out the door - and then comes back,
"Er, I don't suppose I could borrow some needles? I have to go an wait for my wife. I could get started."
I found some needles.
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4 comments:
Of course I imagined the knitter to be female. Which was why you wrote the post in that way. And made me think about stereotypes.
I know, naughty of me Miriam...but he was so gloriously hopeless when it came to finding the pattern (so standard it must be on a dozen sites at least!)
snicker......
This post gave me a chuckle - a gentle reminder not to rely on sterotypes (although there are certainly some parallels here for any woman who has ever found herself in the form of muse/assistant/general dogsbody to a man with a home renovation project!) I was pleasantly surprised recently to find a male knitter in my Sockmaster class at the Knit Cafe in Toronto , and even more impressed at his technical skills, which are excellent . He mentioned that he had learned to knit several years ago as the result of losing a bet with his wife(!) and found that he loved doing it. Let's hope it's a trend ....
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