Handarbeitskreis Hamburg

Now that's something I don't know the English word for. Err, a craft circle? Comments welcome!

Anyway, when I was last in Hamburg a few weeks ago I taught my sister how to knit. Quite strange - it felt very older-sister-like, and also like I was an expert knitter (which, to be fair, I was, relatively speaking). Once we'd sorted out her weird stitch problem (she somehow managed to make both knits and purls look like purls) she started knitting a blue and white striped scarf with needles and yarn from our grandma.

Times like these I really miss my Mum even more than usual. She was a great knitter - any intarsia you can think of she would do and we had some impressive jumpers to prove it. My sister's knee-length frog-on-a-ladder has entered family history. It's just so sad that I never picked up knitting from her, and I'm sure she would be impressed with what I'm doing. Especially the socks - that's something she never could do! We had to rely on our grandma for hand knitted woolen socks at Christmas. My grandma no longer knits either, because her arthritis makes it too hard for her. The upside of that though is that I got a lot of needles from her (all in tiny sizes - the biggest is a 4 mm) and some yarn (which stinks of smoke unfortunately - a stash that's been in an apartment with someone's 60-a-day habit for many years *reeks*!).

The day before I went to Berlin my sister's flatmate came back from London. It turns out she knits as well - so we spent a happy evening knitting: Knucks for my sister (me), said striped scarf (my sister) and wrist warmers (her flatmate).

I really should find myself a Stitch'n'Bitch now that I've moved somewhere more or less permanently. It even looks like I might have a temping job and / or work experience sorted out - people from both the temping agency and the library left messages on my answerphone on Friday while my phone wasn't working. Something to sort out after the Bank Holiday :)