Knitting - Ríon

Blankets and pillows weren’t the only things lining the shelves of shops in Faia during Frost Season. Amongst the colourful, fluffy bedding items, there was colourful, fluffy yarn, too. Well, it wasn’t all colourful, and it wasn’t all fluffy, but there were plenty of variations. Soft and plush yarn, scratchy yarn, bright yellow, charcoal grey, and everything one could imagine that would fall in between them. Really, she had just been popping into town for some supplies. Foodstuffs, things like that. The necessities. What she didn’t need were luxurious yarns and a new hobby.

What she left with, of course, were luxurious yarns and a new hobby.

The shopkeeper had given her a little tutorial on how to start her project, and Ríon figured that that would be enough to let her get a good start on something. Knitting needles, and an abundance of yarn… well, at least she figured she could use a new hobby. She had plenty of time to fill, after all. It got a little lonely out in her secluded little cave, so maybe this would help break up the monotony a little bit? It wasn’t like she could go hunting for snowflakes to preserve every day, after all. It didn’t snow quite that frequently…

And it would be a useful hobby, too, she thought! Her scarf and hat were getting a little bit worn, a little bit tattered, and everyone needed some good clothing options for the cold weather, even Faians who loved the cold as much as she did. It was enough for her to justify the bigger than intended expense that day, anyway. It might not have held up in a court of law, but in Ríon’s head? It worked just fine. 

Once she was home, she quickly put away her necessities, then stopped to admire her haul of yarn. She had chosen the softest, warmest feeling yarn she could find. She had picked three different colours, as well - a bright green, a vibrant yellow, and a teal to blue gradient yarn. They were, she thought, some of the most beautiful things she had ever seen. And hopefully the multiple skeins of each colour would keep her busy for a while…

Now, where to start? The Candle Noodle manning the counter of the store had said she should wind the yarn into balls to work from first, and then maybe start with a scarf. She had shown her how to cast on, how to knit, and how to purl, but had recommended she start with a straight knitted scarf first, as it would be the easiest thing for her to do - and it would take some time to get it to the length she wanted, as well, so she would be busy for a while! How could she not have bought the yarn for a new knitting hobby with how helpful the Candle Noodle had been? 

Frowning in concentration, she studied her yarns again. Maybe she’d start with the green for now. She rather liked the colour - it reminded her of new shoots of grass. Seeing the plant life returning to Faia… it reminded her a lot of that, and that always made her smile. Seeing the new plants flourishing in the world again, seeing wither being pushed back… Yes, she would choose the green for her first ever knitting project. 

Casting on, she discovered, wasn’t so hard. It was all about being able to tie a slipknot, and that wasn’t difficult at all. Well, once she had wrapped her head around how it was supposed to work, anyway. Then it was just filling out the row with the amount of stitches she needed and… well, the difficult part, she discovered, was keeping track of the stitches. She lost count a handful of times, having to go back and count just how many she had cast on. Thirty six stitches for the gauge of these needles and yarn, she remembered the shopkeep saying. One, two, three… all the way to thirty six. After a couple of starts and stops, she managed to do it. Well, that wasn’t so bad! If it was all like that then certainly she could do this… right?

It turned out that that was not the case. On her first attempt, her tension was too high, and she found she could barely move the yarn around the needles. On her second attempt she overcompensated and it was far too loose - the gaps between her stitches looked absolutely ridiculous, and certainly wasn’t going to help keep anyone warm. One more time and… there, right in the middle. The tension was much better on her third go.

This time she made it three rows in before she made a mistake, dropping three stitches, one after the other. Oh no. The shopkeeper hadn’t told her how to fix this - she didn’t even know if this was fixable, or if she was stuck like this. Sighing, she resigned herself to starting over for a fourth time, now. She could do this, she was sure of it! It was just… going to take a little bit more work than she had thought it would. Apparently knitting wasn’t an innate talent she had that she hadn’t known about, after all…

A few more attempts, a few more mistakes. The wrong tension, the wrong amount of stitches cast on, dropping stitches… Just how many mistakes was it possible for one person to make while knitting, she wondered? It was so frustrating… why did everyone say it was so calming and relaxing? She wasn’t feeling very calm or relaxed. As a matter of fact, she could feel herself becoming infuriated.

On her ninth attempt, she once again dropped several stitches - but didn’t notice until she had completed another few rows and she could see the big, gaping hole in her scarf. 

“Argh!” she yelled, tossing the knitting, needles and all, at the cave wall. They clattered to the floor, the noise somewhat cushioned by the plush yarn, and Ríon held back the urge to simply scream into the cave. It was just going to echo back at her and be too loud, she knew… surely there was another solution?

A walk. She’d go for a little walk. The brisk air would cheer her up for sure, she thought! She just needed to get her thoughts together, calm down… and then she could try it again. It would be easier, she thought, when she wasn’t so mad. 

It was cold, and a thick fog was beginning to fall across the forest that surrounded her little cave. And the sun was going down, too - it was about to get much darker and much colder. When she got back, perhaps she’d light a few candles, and start a fire in her big firepit… wouldn’t it be cozy to knit before the fire? Maybe make a big cup of hot chocolate…

Okay, perhaps she’d cut her walk short, she thought. She was feeling re-energised about working on her knitting already! It sure was hard to argue with hot chocolate… and marshmallows. Maybe she had some left…

Ríon scurried back home, shedding her old scarf and hat at the entrance to her cave. She made quick work of starting the fire and lighting all the candles, shedding some much needed light within her little home. She put a pot on the fire for her hot chocolate, and collected her knitting from the ground, where it had landed when she had thrown it.

“Okay, Ríon,” she said to herself, “You can do this…”