Two grey heads hunched together, their owners companionably sharing a bench and the warm, early autumn sun.
"…And then you stick the needle through the first loop, like this. Hold the needles with your left hand. That's right, very good. Then you'll loop the yarn around the right needle. No, not like that, dear, from the back. That's right, you got it! Now gently pull it…"
"Oh fiddlesticks." Her friend looked exasperatedly on as the stitch dropped off her needles and unraveled, leaving tangled threads in its wake. "I swear, I'll never get it! Old dog, new tricks, and all that."
"Practice makes perfect," the other witch said soothingly.
"Can't we just jump straight to the charm? This is so tedious."
During her S.P.E.W days, Hermione had come by a reasonable proficiency with a knitting needle. And so when, after a life long even by Wizarding standard, Molly passed beyond the veil, the mantle of knitting the yearly Awful Weasley Christmas Jumpers had fallen to her.
But the family was still growing – there were so many grands and great-grands. And so she had decided to rope Ginny in for help, teaching her the ways of the knit and the purl, of producing something everyone pretended to suffer through with indignity, but secretly reveled in as part of the warp and weft of Christmas. It was tradition. And tradition was sacred.
Hermione sighed. "I know, but you can't charm the needles correctly if you don't really understand what you need them to be doing in the first place. And honestly, knitting them by hand - there is just so much more love in there. Come on, let's just give it another try."
Ginny picked up the needles and the ball of yarn wearily. "As you wish." Just like her sister-in-law, she would never truly love the chore the way her mother had. But she did love the groans, and the fun, and the laughter at Christmas, when the sweaters were unveiled in all their knobby, technicolor, time-honored glory. A time for family to come together and to remember a remarkable woman.
And that would be worth all the dropped stitches in the world.