The Beginning

In October 2009, I moved to Pisa to start a new position at one of the universities in the city.  I didn't know anyone, and I definitely didn't speak any Italian.  Whilst I made friends during my first term here, they were mostly foreign students on exchange trips or the Erasmus programme, and we all spoke English together, as I do with my bosses.  This was great, but I wanted to meet local people and to make a good stab at trying to learn enough Italian to get by without requiring an interpreter every time I needed to go to the bank or get my hair cut.  A chance search on Ravelry, the internet giant for all knitters and crocheters (hookers?), led me to Knittable, a knit cafè here in Pisa.  One brave Thursday night in January 2010 I went along with the cardigan I was making to see what it was all about.

I cannot say how much the wonderful women I have met since then have made my life easier in Pisa.  Not only do I get a couple of hours enforced Italian practice every week, but I've made real friends who I know I can turn to when I need to.  They've given me advice about Pisa and they've been so patient with my inability to communicate with them (I did not learn the past tense in Italian until about March last year so asking me how my day had been was a complete disaster!).  They've even helped me move house.

Here some of us are on World-Wide Knit In Public day, behind the cathedral and just by the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa, enjoying the nice warm day and providing some entertainment for the tourists and locals alike.

(I am second from the right on the front row wearing the pink tshirt.  You can just about see the hat I was knitting that day for my cousin's baby :) )