The Ladies’ Night shoppers were out in full force that evening, taking up all the parking spaces in front of the block of stores that housed Llama and Lamb, Better Days Antiques and Gifts, and Glad Rags Boutique. Penelope had to park around the corner and two blocks down, in the shadow of the east side of the jail. Bill reminded her often to park under a streetlight if she couldn’t find a space in front of the shop, but a glance at her watch told Penelope that she didn’t have time to wander around in search of one. She grabbed her purse and her knitting bag, locked the car, and hurried to the yarn shop for her first class. She quickly laid out the project samples and positioned the size thirteen needles near the edge of the table.
Gigi arrived first, as usual. She pulled her project, a cotton wash cloth worked in stripes, out of her bag with a flourish.
“Look! I finished it!”
“Well done! This looks great!” Penelope told her. Gigi had come a long way since her first project. The first half of her garter stitch wash cloth had been a poster child for knitting mistakes. With practice, however, Gigi’s work had improved. This most recent wash cloth, A Study in Stripes, was close to flawless.
“Can you believe it?” Gigi said with a grin. “I can hardly wait to start the next one!”
Ellie came in next and took her seat at the table. With a smile and a nod, she took out her work. Her slow and careful knitting produced even stitches and an atmosphere of calm around her.
Anita was last to arrive, frazzled and out of breath.
“I thought I’d never find a parking space! I forgot it was Ladies’ Night!”
“The important thing is that you’re here,” Penelope told her. “Ladies, before we get too involved in our knitting, I have a favor to ask. Gwen wants to get the word out about the classes here. Do you mind if I take pictures during class for Gwen to post in the Llama and Lamb website?”
“Just get my good side,” Gigi quipped as the knitters nodded their assent.
“You won’t need to pose or anything,” Penelope said. “I’ll snap casual shots of the class in progress. Relax and enjoy your knitting.”
“Easy for you to say,” Anita said. She pulled out her somewhat bedraggled garter stitch wash cloth. “I messed up again, and then when I tried to fix it, I made it worse.”
Penelope soon had Anita back on track. Then she picked up her phone and took a picture of the group, Ellie knitting placidly, Anita’s forehead creased in concentration. She checked the photo, pleased to see a good view of the counter where Gwen stood chatting with a customer.
Before she knew it, Penelope was saying “See you next week!” to Gigi, Anita, and Ellie, but she still hadn’t heard Gwen say, “More merino?” the signal they’d arranged for the appearance of the counterfeiter. She cleared away the project samples for the beginner class and mentally prepared herself for the next class. Each of the advanced beginners were working on projects of their own choosing. Cheryl was making a seamless hat on circular needles, while Danielle was determined to make mittens on double-pointed needles, the way she had seen her mother make them when she was a child. Maddie had made a cardigan for her grandson and was ready to sew the pieces together. Between helping her students and chatting with curious Ladies’ Night customers, Penelope hoped she wouldn’t miss the counterfeiter.
Penelope had just finished talking Danielle through picking up the thumb stitches on her first mitten when she heard the signal.
“Show me your hat, Cheryl!” Penelope clicked away, capturing both the happy hat knitter and the counterfeiter behind her. Her heart beat faster as she set the large metal knitting needles in motion with a brush of her elbow. As they clattered and clanged on the floor, every head in the shop turned her way, including the ordinary-looking woman at the counter. Penelope managed to take another picture before ducking under the table to retrieve the noisy needles.
“Sorry!” But Penelope was not sorry. She was triumphant. She could hardly wait to send both pictures to Agent Donovan. Wouldn’t he be impressed? She shoved the errant needles into her knitting bag and laid her phone on the table to help Maddie with her tiny cardigan.
“That is so cute!” said a voice behind her. Out of the corner of her eye, Penelope saw a hand snaking toward her phone.