Just as I finished my second, less tense square I was whisked away from one knitting circle to tea and cake with another. A machine knitting group that had been meeting for twenty five years. None of them hand knitted, and they admitted that most of them didn’t produce much on their machines now either. The meetings were a good excuse to see each other, to swap hints and tips on different machines and computer operating systems, linux was their preferred option. They showed me Jacquard patterns, a binary code system that has been part of knitting machines since they were first developed in the 16th Century. Explained the wonders of Embelishers and Dry Felting. There were also holiday photos of a trip to see the crocheted coral reef, an environmental statement about Climate Change produced by knitters in Sydney.
As we were leaving the discussion turned toward health. One of the members was due to have a cataracts operation this morning, she was nervous. Everyone else had already had them removed so they told her how simple the procedure was and how brilliant the effect. Instantly fabulous colours, blues, reds and greens, fantastic and so clear. Their eyes sparkled with delight at the memory of that moment.
http://sydneyreef.blogspot.com/
