How knitting is making a comeback

With the resurgence of interest in the ancient craft as a hobby – Madonna, Julia Roberts and Sarah Jessica Parker number among the many celebrities who have taken it up – I have often thought about having another go, but the opportunity didn’t arise.

So I put some feelers out and was thrilled when two expert knitters – both members of the Leeds and Bradford branch of the national Knitting and Crochet Guild – offered to give me an hour’s tuition.

At least I can remember some knitting lingo – cast on, cast off, knit, purl – I thought, as I went to meet Lesley Fidler and Nasreen AlGafoor.

A member of the guild for more than 20 years, tax adviser Lesley could knit before she could read. “I was about four when I learned,” she says.

She got to know Nasreen, a lawyer, through work, but had no idea that she harboured a desire to take up knitting.

Explains Nasreen: “I used to knit as a child and was searching the internet to see whether I could take it up again locally, when I saw Lesley’s name. I wanted to join a group where I could go along and have a chat and learn – my skills are fairly basic and I wanted to meet people who could teach me.

“My mum is a great knitter who was taught by a Zulu woman in South Africa. She makes it up as she goes along and doesn’t follow patterns, but I really wanted to learn how to read patterns.”

She joined the guild – which has around 30 members – two years ago, and is now a competent knitter about to start work on a cardigan. Through the group she has also mastered new skills.

“One of the members, Carol, taught me to crochet,” she says.

“As you get older it is difficult to learn a new skill, but Carol was very patient, and I could see that she enjoyed teaching me – I could see the excitement in her eyes.”

Now it’s my turn. As I’m handed the large, chunky needles – I’m told that larger needles are better for beginners – I’m troubled by the fact that I can’t remember a thing from my previous knitting experiences.

But it’s strange how memories flood back, and I find once I’m holding the needles, I sort of know what to do.

“That’s the right idea,” says Lesley, as I push the needle in my right hand under the knotted yarn attached to the needle in my left.

Without the use of diagrams, it is impossible to adequately describe how to knit. It is all about pushing in and looping over and picking up and pushing in and looping over, and so on. It is very soothing, and in no time I feel relaxed.

Beginners tend to start with garter stitch, then there’s the purl stitch – often described as a backwards knit stitch – and stocking stitch, to name but a few.

I remember the basics in no time, but keep having to call Lesley and Nasreen for help. I can see the benefits of being a member of a group.

“When you are getting started, you need someone to sit beside you,” says Lesley. “You can also get help from a good yarn shop proprietor.”

The guild tends to attract members who have already mastered the basics, but, says Lesley: “We would welcome enthusiastic beginners.”

The beauty of knitting is that it can be enjoyed by people of any age, and can be practised anywhere.

Lesley knits while commuting by train to work in Saltaire and Leeds. “I do a small amount every day, “ she says. “That’s why my husband lives in hand-knitted socks.”

She adds: “You can now get hold of machine-washable yarn so you don’t have to wash woollen socks by hand – it is beyond the call of wifely duty to wash your husband’s socks.”

Nasreen, who lives and works in Horsforth, has not yet knitted anything for her husband, but “he has agreed to wear a jumper if I knit him one.”

There are three men in the knitting group. “One has been busy knitting neck ties,” says Lesley, who looks upon knitting as the ideal pastime, one which keeps you busy and demands concentration. “I was always told off at school for fidgeting,” she laughs.

Nasreen enjoys knitting while listening to the radio, and also knits while surrounded by her seven chickens, the clicking and clucking being a therapeutic mix.

I am overawed by the knitted items the women have brought along to our meeting – beautiful scarves in unusual wool, warm woolly gloves, and a wonderful woollen handbag.

With Bradford’s rich history in textiles, it is not surprising that the women don’t have to go far to find supplies. “Bradford is fantastic for yarns,” says Lesley, reeling off a list of trusted local firms such as Texere Yarns, on Barkerend Road, and Wilkinsons in Bradford city centre.

“Create in Ilkley sells alpaca wool, which I’m having a go with at the moment,” says Lesley, handing me a rectangle of the softest wool I have ever touched.

When I reach the end of my row, Lesley shows me how to start another. There isn’t time to learn any alternative knitting techniques, but it doesn’t matter – I’m happy to have grasped the basics, and am keen to learn more.

* Knitting and Crochet Guild Leeds & Bradford Branch meet on the second and fourth Fridays of the month at Headingley St Columba’s United Reformed Church, Headingley Lane, Leeds LS6 2DH, from 7.30pm until 9.30pm. For more information, visit the website knitting-and-crochetguild. org. uk, or contact Lesley on 07710 582659.

It was a man's thing...

* Knitting is thought to have originated with male Arabian sailors and was a male-only craft until fairly recently in its history. In non-western cultures knitting has remained prominent among men.

* Knitted socks discovered in Egyptian tombs have been dated between the third and sixth centuries.

* The first knitting machine, invented in England in 1589 by William Lee, was refused a patent by Queen Elizabeth I on the grounds that it would curtail the work of hand knitters.

* Queen Elizabeth l is known to have worn knitted stockings.

* Between 1850 and 1910, knitwear was mainly a female fashion, but later knitted pullovers, cardigans, men’s underwear, sportswear and swimwear became popular for men.