“Knitting is my Life”

The title is a quote from the first chapter of Susan Gordon Lydon’s book - The Knitting Sutra.  I had intended to write about the little child’s cardigan that I have been knitting and show you a photo of the finished version – unfortunately I still haven’t finished it!  I keep meaning to sew it up but instead I have been knitting squares of my charity blanket and inputting my family history onto the computer.

The lack of knitting this week might make the title quote seem inappropriate – but it isn’t really.  Every spring I try to reduce the amount of stuff in my flat and look for things that I can bear to part with.  When I was going through one of the book shelves I came across Susan Gordon Lydon’s book The Knitting Sutra. 

It was published in 1997 and I may have read it then.  If you are obsessed with knitting – you only need to read the first page to know that you will like the book – I thought “I could have written this book”.    In the first chapter Susan talks about the fact that when her friend Lou comes to visit there is nowhere for her to sit because there is knitting on every chair.  I haven’t got knitting on every chair but I am a bit embarrassed about the amount of  yarn in the lounge.  On a bad day you could be up to your knees in it!  If you are coming to visit – I need notice!

This second knitting book by Susan Gordon Lydon – Knitting Heaven and Earth which was published in 2005 - is good as well – but rather sad as Susan was dying when she wrote it – or perhaps I should put it more positively as she would have done – she was knitting with a terminal illness.

Now I have started re-reading Susan’s books I will carry on – I had forgotten how good they are.  What I do remember from the first book was Susan struggling to knit a complex Annabel Fox pattern – I had to get hold of a copy of the pattern to see what she meant.  I am glad I did because I bought a second-hand copy of Annabel Fox’s first book – The Original Annabel Fox published in 1991.  It is another excellent book and some of Annabel’s designs are a challenge – but some are easier and with the recent revival of intarsia – they are fashionable again.

Now I have started looking at Annabel Fox patterns and I have seen a couple that I would like to knit!