Making A List

Helene Beret by Harpa  Jónsdóttir in Jamieson & Smith 100% Shetland Wool

classic old Icelandic eight-leafed rose pattern for Karen

One September many moons ago Karen showed up in our school - she was fourteen, and different in a number of respects to the rest of us in the class in a way which went beyond accent or region. The most marked aspect of this difference was she had already learned from events in her own life that there’s no limit to how often lightning can strike in the same place.

Her aura of tragedy was certainly an initial draw because outside books and film I’d never encountered anyone who'd been through quite so much.  But whatever she carried in private, she kept private and it was soon clear that she had no intention of styling herself as some kind of tragic figure. When you got to know her, you knew her, for instance, for her

1 limitless generosity

2 subversive sense of humour

3 constant and ambitious range of reading

4 schemes to thwart The System

5 astounding (and massively useful) instant recall of names,

  dates and addresses

6 forensic dauntless stare

7 awe-inspiring organisational abilities 

8  "     "      "     ability to be totally pissed off 

…and a life-long friendship was sealed.

(Karen is a serious list maker, by the way)

At one point or another, Karen bailed me out of more traumatic experiences than I probably owe her in:

1  creme eggs, peanut butter and digestives,

2  mugs of coffee in Murph's

3 (a) vodkas-and-lime

    (b) glasses of guinness

    (c) bottles of

        (i) Black Tower

        (ii) Blue Nun

       (iii) Lambrusco

4 straights

5 cover stories for home and teachers

6 cost of entry to innumerable gigs/clubs 

7 chips from:

   (a) Matassa's (greaseproof paper bags of)

   (b) The Depresso (plates of)

8  clothes in general but :

   (a) one grey jacket in particular 

9 beds in: 

    (a) Richview Park   

    (b) Castletown & Northend Roads environs 

    (c) Harold's X 

10 more recently, knitting advice and multiple sewing up 

....and as no list I could ever compile could possibly encompass everything, that’s saying something.

 As an adult, Karen has happily turned her organizational talents to more worthy uses than the folly of friends, and is the consistent demon knitter frequently mentioned here.

I picked this Helene beret because:

1  I liked the pattern and hoped she might too

2  It might come in handy as she's taken up dog walking

3 Although she can knit colour, she's not an enthusiast.

4 it's a token of my appreciation for having often had the benefit of all her talents 

5 Karen is one of the few people likely to appreciate how much work it took to make