Get out more
Guardian Unlimited - December 5 2006
Knit and Rip is a group of ladies of advancing age, who sit around on sofas and knit. What they knit goes off to trouble spots around the world. It's a charitable thing, organised by the Mother's Union. They make stuff such as Teddies for Tragedy, bandages and blankets.They had never had a man there before. But they very patiently cast on for me and I knitted four lines of one patch for a quilt. Plus a bit of ripping: cotton blankets ripped up for bandages for distribution wherever there are earthquakes and tsunamis, that sort of thing. The rest of it was very pleasant chat with these magnificent old ladies.
I was in awe. They talked about the noise of doodlebugs over London and when a ball of wool was two and six. And then a very strange thought came to me. One of them said that, really, the knitting was secondary to the social aspect of Knit and Rip - that what they were really there for was a chat. And as I sat there on the sofa gassing away, with my fingers all tangled up in wool, it occurred to me that this could be me and my buddies on a Friday night playing video games. [more]
Comments