Like I have mentioned earlier, I started knitting in the winter of 2017. There was no particular reason, no well laid out plan before I started. I think I woke up one morning, sat up straight in bed and said “Pallavi, it’s time to start knitting”!

At this stage, I knew none of the great things about knitting that I mentioned in my previous post. I only knew that I needed two needles, some wool, a very basic YouTube tutorial, and I would be on my way to greatness. I quickly found a video that was just the thing – the good folks at Sheep & Stitch had a video called “How to Knit a Scarf step-by-step for Total Beginners”. Although I knew that I was on my way to greatness, yet I was pragmatic enough to know that I was a “Total Beginner” and the patient, almost for-dummies style of teaching in the video was exactly what I needed. Here’s the video if you want to know what I am talking about

Video in place, the next step was to obtain some bulky wool and big sized needles. For all such things, I turn to my mother, who bless her, has always looked on with indulgence at the odd fits of creativity in her younger child – her elder daughter being naturally creative and talented. Off we went to Turabh Nagar – anyone who has ever lived in Ghaziabad or any other similar Indian town would be able to relate to that one market which comprised nothing more than shops on either side of a lane and where one went at great peril to one’s life, only to find cheap versions of almost anything one could think of. So off we went to Turabh Nagar and not surprisingly, I found my bulky wool and needles. The shopkeeper looked on indulgently as if I was just one more of the many young ladies accompanying their mothers who had taken up the whimsical idea of knitting in their heads that season.

My mother was kind enough to wind the wool into 5 neat balls and I started knitting. Two years and some months later, I don’t exactly remember whether I found knitting easy or difficult. I think quickly learnt the garter stitch and promptly realized that I could easily knit endless rows of that without breaking a sweat.

I finally did stop when the wool ran out which is also when I finished the scarf. I decided to gift it to my mother as a mark of gratitude for her help and indulgence. She accepted it graciously and yet 2 winters have since gone by but the scarf remains elusive. Do you think it’s time I read something into that?

~P