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Knitting Needles and Broomsticks
By: Michelle Edwards
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Some of us in the knitting world will wait to read the new Harry Potter book. We will turn the heel and Kitchener the toe. We will finish those socks. And wait for the moment when our offspring finish reading the very last page and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows becomes ours.
We knitters are good at waiting
Some of us will throw frugality to the wind and buy our own copy. We will join the race. To be in the know. Devouring the book of the moment. The book everyone in the world is talking about.
And we who have followed Harry Potter’s development from the scruffy young outcast of 4 Privet Drive to the hope of the wizarding world, well, we really want to know what will happen next to Harry, our Harry. My goodness, we’re knitters. We care about him. We totally understand Molly Weasley knitting for Harry. Wouldn’t any of us worth our stash find a way to make something warm and comforting for such a noble orphan?
However we acquire the book, once we began to read it and put ourselves in to the hands of the ultimate story teller, we know where we will be. Inside the world of magic and danger. Many of us will be so involved in the story that we may not even knit while we read. Right. Admit it. You can be honest with me.
And while we are engrossed in what we have been told is the very final book of the series, our knitting antennae will be up. We’ll be looking for the moments when our universe, the knitting universe, collides unexpectedly with the wizarding world. It has happened in all of the Harry Potter books. I think the knitting references in the Potter books are a kind of wink to us, the corps of needle-wielding armchair adventurers. An acknowledgment of our world.
In the last book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Albus Dumbledore, the esteemed headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry excuses himself to visit the ‘loo.’ He’s in there a very long time and when he returns his host asks Dumbledore if he had an upset stomach.
Do you remember his reply?
“No, I was merely reading the Muggle magazines,” said Dumbledore. “I do love knitting patterns…”
Of course. We Harry Potter readers knew that Dumbledore was fond of thick wool socks, but how thrilling for those of us who knit to learn that the most venerable and noble wizard of all times shared our delight in knitting patterns.
Mrs. Weasley and Hagrid are knitters. Hermione knit for house elves. But Dumbledore loving knitting patterns was, well to this knitter, almost magical. It was so good to know that about Albus. Before he lost his final battle. We who knit and read will miss him forever.
What will there be for us Muggle knitters in this new Harry Potter?
A great read. And perhaps something more. Another glimpse of charmed knitters in enchanted places.
What makes the Harry Potter books so wonderful is what takes us by surprise. What will there be for us is surely something wildly original. And as long as needles are clicking in the wizarding world, we may feel certain that the forces of good and light will win.
For more stories by Michelle, please click here.
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Authored by Michelle Edwards
Michelle Edwards is the author of A KNITTER'S HOME COMPANION. She has also written and illustrated many award winning children's books. In her spare time, Michelle enjoys talking about books in schools throughout the US and beyond. Her newest book, Room for the Baby, will be available from Random House in Fall 2012. Visit Michelle Edwards at her website or on Facebook. |
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