How long did it take to learn that?

I remember when I wrote the only poem I've ever written that's worth a damn. It's called Canada Geese, and it's about the arrival and departure of the geese every spring and fall. All my life, since I was a wee lass, I would rush outside to see the geese flying overhead, and I would cry.

I don't know why I cried, but I always did, ever since I was a little girl. Then, one autumn day when I was married to my first husband D, after I cried looking at the geese I ran into the house and wrote the poem. It has been taken out and polished many times over the years, but actually I've made very few changes.

Some people who enjoyed the poem asked me "How long did it take you to write?"

Well, that depends on when you started counting. It either took me around  20 minutes, or 20 years, depending on when you started!

Well, two days ago I had a similar experience.

See this?

This is a bit of knitting. A rib stitch, to be more precise.

I started knitting on Tuesday. After a lifetime of not being able to knit.

Oh, I've tried. My Grandma used to let me play at knitting. She'd cast on for me, and I'd do the in-over-through-out" motions till I got bored. But I could never manage casting on myself, no matter how many times she showed me how to do it. I'd get one or two stitches on, then forget how to do it and get it wrong, inside out or backwards or whatever - just couldn't manage it.

I still couldn't manage it when I was married for the first time and two friends tried to teach me. I seem to have a problem with knots. In fact, if I stop to think about it, I can't tie my shoelaces. I either go quickly through the motions or it doesn't happen.

I always picture my friend P, trying desperately to hold in her laughter, as she watched me try to cast on. This after six lessons. She suggested I stop trying, and I thought that made sense, since I wasn't getting anywhere.

About two weeks ago, I started dreaming about knitting! I could see the needles, I could see the wool, I watched, in my dream, as I tied the first slipknot, then in slow motion I could see the needle going through the loop, could see the wool making another loop, watched in awe as I slipped the new stitch onto the first needle.

I had this dream about eight times in the past two weeks. On Tuesday, I scoured the house for some string and grabbed two barbecue skewers and tried it.

And it worked.

Not consistently. I kept undoing my ten stitches so I could practise casting them on again. I was so excited I called my cousin, who knits and crochets.

I was stunned. So I went out and bought one set of knitting needles and one ball of wool. And I started practising.

I'm still having trouble keeping the number of stitches the same from row to row, but I'm finally, after all these years, getting it!

You have to understand - this is simply unbelievable to me. Imagine if you'd never driven a car, then one day someone puts you behind the wheel, and you start driving right away with no problem. Or if someone gave you a violin, you picked it up, and started playing right away,

It's fantastic! I never thought I'd ever knit.

So how long did it take me to learn? Well...five minutes, or fifty years, whichever you prefer!