K2tog or Sl1, k1, psso

Exactly what I don’t need, more wool, but it was my birthday and Hobbycraft sent me a voucher to spend. There are very few things in life that are free. What could I do? It seemed churlish not to use the voucher. I have not really ventured into knitting with chunky wool and I do have a hat pattern that requires it.

Knitting

They knit their questions on

Size thirteen needles1

With thin two ply wool2

Avoiding strong colours

They choose patterns that

Instruct them to

K2tog3 or Sl1, k1, psso4 and

They fear dropped stiches

Jesus knits his answers on

Size six needles5

With warm Aran6 wool

Opting for something vibrant

He chooses patterns with

Cables7 and ribs8 and

Inc9 every other row with RS10 facing and

He rescues dropped stitches

Not a surprise, perhaps

They don’t understand him

I think perhaps this poem needs footnotes or something. Here we go.

1. Size thirteen needles – this is in old money, imperial measure. In new money, metric, it’s 2.25mm which is really thin. I think I’m knitting socks on 2.25mm needles.

2. Two ply wool is very thin wool, as it says. My chunky wool is the opposite end of thickness.

3. Knit two stitches together is decreasing a row.

4. Slip a stitch on to the needle, knit the next one and then pass the slipped stich over. It is another way of decreasing. For those of you who are visual learners there are Youtube clips in abundance.

5. Size 6 – again this is in old money. 5.00mm in new money. I have a scarf on the go using size 5.00mm needles and super-chunky wool. It knits up big.

6. Aran wool is quite thick, not as thick as chunky wool, but thicker than double knitting. Most of my stash is double knitting wool.

7. Cables – not sure how to describe this one. There’s a little double pointed needle. You slip stitches on to it, maybe 2, 3 or 4. You knit the following 2,3 or 4 and then knit the ones on the little needle. You get a nice twist.

8. Ribs – knit one purl one across the row. Purl one, knit one on the next row basically.

9. Increase – you pretend you are knitting a stitch but you knit back into it – find another Youtube clip.

10. Right side facing as opposed to WS which is the back of the knitting.

That probably didn’t help, did it? The knitters among you are questioning my explanations no doubt. And what was it all about anyway?

‘They’ are the religious leaders of Jesus day. They nit-pick about rules and regulations, hence the small needles and the thin wool. They like life to be predictable and easy to control. They are obsessed about getting everything right. They hate making mistakes.

Maybe you can work out the verse about Jesus now.

Not a surprise, perhaps

They don’t understand him

Misunderstandings. We are not always singing from the same hymn book. Or in this case knitting with the same sized needles and the same thickness of wool. I have been reading ‘The Path to Change’ by Pope Francis. He says that one of the fundamental ways to provoke change is through dialogue. Yes, weapons work too. And war. But if we are looking for peace, they way to do it is to talk. And in the talking there has to be the intention to understand one another. And sometimes that involves a little bit of surrendering and giving way to the other party. And that is really what people hate to do. They see it as weakness, but it is really a strength.

It takes time to learn to knit. It takes time to learn another language. And sometimes, even when it’s the same language, it takes time to understand what another person is really saying.

Take that time.