Knitting a pair of socks

When I was a little girl and asked of my Dad "what are you doing?", when it was blindingly obvious what he was doing, he used to answer – in a growly voice – "knitting a pair of socks." As far as I know, he has never picked up a knitting needle except to pass it back to my mother if she dropped one. I, on the other hand, used to be an avid knitter, designing jumpers with motifs - the first few bars of the dying swan cello solo in Swan Lake for a cellist friend springs to mind, as well as this one - the first two bars of Beethoven's 5th (yes that's me aged 20 or so in the early 80s) - and other projects back in the days before cheap foreign imports made buying jumpers cheaper than making them.

In later years I acquired two cats and soon learnt that waggling knitting needles and playful cats are not compatible and I gave up, tucking away a half-completed jumper into the back of my sewing drawer.

It has been some time since I had a cat - about ten years - and when I was sorting out my drawers after our move to Weymouth last year the bag of knitting resurfaced. No cat: no excuse. I didn't start on the jumper straight away, though, but started to knit myself a hat with some new yarn bought for the purpose. Maybe it's my age and I just feel the cold more, or it's been a particularly cold and windy winter here, but in late autumn I soon realised that I was going to have to have a hat, so why not knit one? I knitted three. Or rather, I knitted the same hat three times. I couldn't find a suitable pattern so I made it up as I went along. Near the of the first attempt I realised it was going to be too big, so I undid it all and started again. Next I found I'd started shaping the top too soon so it was too small. So I undid it again. The third (lucky) time I started from the top, increasing the number of stitches in increments to create a dome that I shaped as I went along until it was the perfect fit. I knitted an extra long brim that folds up twice so it's very snug indeed over my ears.

And I also knitted a scarf to match. Twice.