As an autistic person with major anxiety issues, I do a lot of comfort watching (and watching, and rewatching). I like mysteries, and have a fond affection for Agatha Christie. David Suchet’s Poirot and Geraldine McEwan/Julia McKenzie’s Marple are series I can watch over and over and enjoy just as much every time.
And as a knitter, as someone who knits every day to help control my anxiety, keep my mind active and make a little pin money on the side, it’s a wonderful thing to watch the skill with which both Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie knit.
They’re not just mocking for camera – they’re both wonderfully accomplished knitters who can knit speedily, often without looking at their work, all while delivering a performance. How often is there something made for television or film these days that involves a character doing any kind of handcraft, let alone a fibre art? There are so many of us out there in the modern world who still knit for pleasure and for pasttime and for pocket money. It’s lovely looking at media and admiring characters wearing everything from a jumper to a hat to a woolly scarf, and guessing what might have been lovingly hand knit by someone in the costume department, but actually seeing it knit on screen – that’s a rare joy indeed.
knitting in the dark 