An e-mail came in from one of our readers yesterday. She explained that she is based in Belgium on a canal boat and enjoys reading the “Friend” while on her travels. And this was why she was contacting me. An avid knitter, she had taken out a pattern from one of her magazine, carefully laminated it, and begun knitting. Living on the water as she does, she was sitting atop her boat, enjoying the breeze, knitting away, when suddenly a gust of wind had blown her beautifully laminated pattern away.
So she had a front and back complete but only a few rows of sleeve started, and her pattern was floating away down the canal. With no way to rescue it, our reader had no option but to watch it pass on by.
It was at this point that she e-mailed our office. She knew the pattern came from this year, she thought about March (close, it was January) and she was able to give me a rough description – mauve marble effect yarn and a lace pattern front and back but plain sleeves (well, almost plain). It was enough for me to find the pattern and despatch a copy. So our reader can finish her sleeves and get wearing her jumper.
And it set me wondering . . . how many of you take your knitting away on holiday? Where is the most far-flung place a “Friend” knitting pattern has been taken? And finally, I find myself wondering where the final resting place of our reader’s pattern will be. Who knows, if the lamination stays waterproof, someone else may come across it and begin to knit. Maybe one day they will wear their jumper and when someone admires it say, “You’ll never guess where I found the pattern . . .”
Liz O’Rourke I am part of the Features Team and my hobbies include knitting and crafts, reading and foreign travel – which are also my main responsibilities on the “Friend”. If you walk into the office you will soon spot my desk, it’s the one piled high with knitwear and balls of yarn!
