Knitting

I am not a great lover of knitted dolls or the knitted scenes that have suddenly become very popular. However I do admire the skill of the knitters and I can imagine the pleasure they must get from choosing wools from the vast array of colours and types that are available in the shops these days.

Last weekend the Darlington Stitch Bombers crept into the town centre in the middle of one night and decorated the High Row with their wonderful work. Intricately-made dolls were everywhere; colourful bunting flew high and even the bollards had brightly coloured covers to add to the atmosphere of Christmas in these cold December days. 

But before I’d had a chance to see it, vandals had destroyed the whole display – nothing but a bit of bunting and two tiny knitted mice remained to show the hours of work that must have gone into that display.

And yet in the little Victorian town of Saltburn-by-the-Sea, the same type of knitting has decorated the pier for several years.  The work depicts local activities and even the Olympic Games and in contrast to Darlington, this attracts visitors, not vandals.

Olympic athletes with their gold medals.

It’s hard to imagine the senseless behaviour that led to the Darlington destruction.

Were they drunken louts or simply ordinary citizens with a grudge against knitting?