“Well—”
“Thanks. I’ll make up the poster tonight. Say, do either of the rest of you subscribe to that newsgroup rctn?”
“No,” said Jill.
Godwin said, “Aren’t they fun?”
Betsy nodded. “And long-winded. It takes forever to download their messages, but they had this thread about coffee stains on a needlepoint—”
The door went bing and talk stopped. A young woman wearing a maternity top she barely needed came in with an older woman who looked enough like her to be her mother. Betsy stood and asked, “May I help you?”
“My daughter may have to spend the last part of her pregnancy in bed. She can knit and wants to make a bed jacket, but she can’t do complicated stitches. Can you suggest something?”
Betsy said, “Here, let me show you something.” She reached beneath the worktable and lifted a wood-framed folding canvas holder up onto its surface. She pulled out a pair of knitting needles to which was attached a pale gold length of knitting. It caught the light in a very attractive way when Betsy draped it over her hand.
“Oh, that’s beauti—why, look at that, Mama, it’s ribbon!”
“Yes.” Betsy nodded. “It’s mine, and I’m just learning. If you can knit and purl, you can do it. Isn’t it pretty? We have the ribbon in stock in a wide range of colors, and there are pattern books that show you how to knit with ribbon.”
The older woman fingered the knitting. “You know, that is beautiful. It makes me want to take up knitting again myself. Do you have any alpaca wool?”
“We just got a shipment in. I’ve never seen such wonderful colors. We have bone and bamboo knitting needles, if you need needles. But first, let me show you the ribbon selection.” Betsy started to lead them toward the back. “Oh, and do you know we have classes here? Our regular knitting class is full, but there’s going to be a second one starting soon, if you’re interested. Or if you want to wait until spring ...”
Over at the worktable there was a lot of winking and nodding going on. No one had wanted to ask, but if Betsy was talking about spring classes, she wasn’t going to be holding a going-out-of-business sale anytime soon.
Berkley Prime Crime titles by Monica Ferris
CREWEL WORLD
FRAMED IN LACE
A STITCH IN TIME
A MURDEROUS YARN
HANGING BY A THREAD
CUTWORK
CREWEL YULE
EMBROIDERED TRUTHS
SINS AND NEEDLES
KNITTING BONES
THAI DIE
BLACKWORK
Anthologies
PATTERNS OF MURDER
SEW FAR, SO GOOD