‘I hope you’re all knitting!’ says Elaine Liner, walking into the room, before picking up her own half finished square of heavy yarn and thick, futuristic looking needles.
I don’t have any knitting, but everyone else does, and they get to it while Elaine weaves a fibrous story of love and loss, delivered in a regal, buttery American accent. The story is of the ‘sweater curse’ – that every time you start to knit something for a loved one, they leave you.
She shares some of her knitting presents and gifts – everything from a kind of cloudy mathematically-calculated ball to a jumper with an abstract representation of a blue tit – and shares some of her knitting lore. The whole thing has a very intimate, comforting ambience.
This is obviously not a show for everyone, but if you like knitting it seems difficult to imagine you wouldn’t enjoy this. I am not a knitter, or a crocheter, but everyone in the front row was clacking and laughing with equal measure.
Words: Mike Saunders
Sweater Curse: A Yarn about Love, Sweet Grassmarket, Aug 1 – 24 (not 6, 13, 20), 14:00
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