Are you on Pinterest?
Have you ever looked at it? I assume many of “The People’s Friend” writers, either current or aspiring, have — to check out the library of Writing Tools we’ve made available there.
It was pretty much unknown territory to me until last winter, when I started working my way through the gigantic bag of odd balls of yarn that I discovered in the course of a cupboard clear-out.
There were some lovely yarns, of all types and thickness, and I wanted to use them constructively.
Gloves, hats, scarves, mittens — all the traditional knits that you can make from just one or two balls. And I needed lots of patterns and ideas on how to do that . . .
In the past, I’d have gone to a knitting shop and ploughed my way through pattern books galore.
But since I rarely have my iPad out of my hand these days, it was the natural place to start. And Pinterest turned out to be a goldmine of ideas.
So much choice
I’ve found every possible kind of pattern I might want, from the plain and simple to complicated designer pieces.
Some have looked gorgeous, but have been a nightmare to knit. This is probably due to the knitter knowing what she meant to say, but not quite getting the message across to the amateur.
One pretty pair of fingerless mittens had me tearing my hair out.
But they were intended as a gift, and I finished one, so it was carry on with gritted teeth till I completed the pair.
Some instructions were just plain wrong. Or were written for American knitters, using US yarn weights, needle sizes and terminology.
But you can find anything you want on the internet, so even those haven’t posed an insurmountable challenge.
I still have half of that gigantic bag of yarn left.
The evenings are drawing in . . . I think I’ll be heading back to Pinterest and its wondrous selection of ideas, designs and patterns very soon!
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Shirley Blair Fiction Ed Shirley’s been with the “Friend” since 2007 and calls it her dream job because she gets to read fiction all day every day. Hobbies? Well, that would be reading! She also enjoys writing fiction when she has time, long walks, travel, and watching Scandi thrillers on TV.
