At the beginning of the year, we returned to Europe after having lived the last 15 years in southern Africa. Most people think of Africa as a hot and dry (savanna and desert) or hot and humid (tropical forest) place. They don’t believe that it can get really cold in Africa. But it can – in winter, the highlands of South Africa are regularly covered in snow, and temperatures drop below freezing during the nights. Even the mountains in the Western Cape (which has a mediterranean climate) can be covered in snow for while during July or August. People then flock to the Cederberg mountain range to enjoy the snow and build snow men.

In my first Cape Winter (back in 1995) – which was a lousy winter, as the Stellenbosch mountains were covered in snow at three times – I really started to appreciate hand knitted socks. Nothing better to keep your feet warm when it is cold and rainy outside, the flat is drafty, and there is no heating or heater anywhere in the house. So out came the knitting needles and the thick socks were made. Knitting socks stopped again when we moved to Namibia (although there is a need for warm socks when you live in the Namib Desert in Winter), and I started again when we moved to Stellenbosch a few years later. I by then could persuade a friend to pack lots of Sock wool in her suitcase when she would come for her annual field research, and would turn this into socks for friends (which were highly appreciated). Knitting ceased over the sommer months, though, as it is simply too hot to knit then.

And then I came back to Europe, and I seem to have forgotten how cold it actually is here. You need not only hand-knitted socks, but gloves and mittens and scarves and bonnets. And knitting does not need to cease over the sommer months – one can knit throughout the year (which is necessary, if you need to kit out your whole family in warm goodies), and my knitting needles have traveled around the world with me this year as well. The patterns on p/hop are a great source of inspiration, and that one supports MSF while knitting – even better!

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Thank you streepie. I hope your knitting keeps you warm this winter.

You can read more from streepie here.

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