Knitting and Networking

I write in cafes during the week because I get so little done when I'm at home. Even if I have a babysitter, I find it difficult to concentrate with the noise of screaming baby and the Wiggles' Big Red Car in the background. So I go out.

There's a new place opened near us that has great coffee, which is always a winner with me. It's attached to a store that sells threads and yarns, a concept I haven't seen before, though the bookstore/cafe thing is very common now.

Lots of women come in, buy their yarn, pore over patterns, and then gossip over a chai latte in the cafe next door. There's something about the juxtaposition of all the colour of the yarn and the creative vibe that really appeals to me as a great atmosphere to write in. I'll definitely be back.

So the cafe is a warm, cosy chocolate brown with a vertical band of rainbow stripes here and there to brighten it. A huge wooden table with about 12 chairs all around dominates the centre of the space and a bench with a teapot (knitted) cup and saucer (knitted) and plate of fancy cakes (also, sadly, knitted) and stools with colourful seats runs along one wall. Big picture windows let in light and a view of the street outside.

When you order, you take a number and on the back it has a quote. Did you know knitting is the new networking? According to Vogue (said my table number), that's what the modern young professional woman is doing instead of drinks and flirting at the bar after a hard day's work. If so, things have changed markedly since I was a solicitor at a city firm. The motto was work hard, play hard and I don't think anyone mentioned knitting. Maybe it's one of those covert things women have always done and are just now admitting it. But if it's a new trend, it's one I won't be joining in a hurry. If I have both hands free of babies and basketballs, I'm writing. When they invent a way to knit while throwing baskets with 4yo or feeding baby, I'm there.

With reservations. I remember well my last attempt at knitting. I was 8 years old, sick, bed-ridden and had read all 14 books I'd borrowed from the library. It was a red scarf and the start was narrow and tight while the end was about twice as wide, with loose, loopy, lacksadaisical stitches. Goodness knows what happened to it. I never learned how to cast off, so it could well be still on the needle where it began. Still, the creative part of the brain can be stimulated by keeping the hands busy in mindless activity like knitting or gardening. If only I had the time...

So, is knitting among the younger set a secret that's been kept for decades, or is it a new phenomenon? What sort of busy work do you do?