May Memoir: Ca va? Stories from Rural Life in Southern France, Chapter 9: Knitting

Welcome to May MEMOIR!

Day 10

For the entire month of May, I'll be sharing part of each chapter from my memoir, Ca va?  Stories from Rural Life in Southern France.

Did I say I never know what to expect when I knock on Chantal’s door?

Chapter 9: Knitting

One afternoon, I arrive at Chantal’s and find her in the middle of yet another new project.  Little did I know, Chantal can knit.  There are piles of wool around the apartment in various states of production.  On the floor, she has raw wool that still smells like the sheep it came from; in front of the fire, dripping wet wool is hung on a drying rack; and in the kitchen, some wool is marinating in the sink in a natural dye she made.  Chantal herself is sitting at a spinning wheel.  Her feet move the two petals back and forth to spin the wheel as she feeds into it washed and dyed wool.  From the looks of things, it appears she has been up before the sun and she is joyously engaging in what is clearly a massive undertaking.

            “I got the wool I ordered yesterday”, she says getting up from her wheel.  “Smell it.  Doesn’t it smell great?”  She says gesturing to the curly mass of wool on the ground.

            “I’ve been waiting for it for weeks.  Come look in the sink.  I’m testing a new dye from dried flowers.  It should turn out yellow.”  She lifts a giant mass of wool from a basin.  Obviously, she is excited and wants to show me everything. 

            “This looks interesting”, I say picking up a big square brush full of wool hairs and a bit of leaves.  “What does this brush do?”

            “That is a carding brush”, she explains.  Pointing at her piles of wool, Chantal explains the process of manufacturing wool from its raw state into something useable.

            “First I take the wool and wash it several times.  I buy it direct from a farm, so they don’t bother washing it before shipping it.  Look, there is still hay and pieces of leaves in it”, she says showing me proudly some random particles still in the wool.

            “After it has been washed, I card it.  I brush pieces of wool back and forth between these two brushes and eventually thread like masses appear.  From that, I pull it through the spinning wheel and make bundles of yarn.  After that, I dye it, and then I knit with it.”

            “That is really cool”, I say duly impressed.  I’ve never seen anyone take knitting down to the essentials and this process of transformation looks absolutely fascinating. 

            “Do you know how to knit?”  She asks me.

            “Um, no”, I say knowing what is coming next.  I know Chantal and from the looks of things, I know she has now decided to teach me to knit.