I've been thinking a lot about knitting and the way that it brings groups of people, usually women, together. There's a reason it has survived and remained popular for so long - after machines and small children in China have replaced the need for knitting as a practicality. The coolness and flexibility of making your own clothes takes it pretty far, but I think that the camaraderie of fellow knitters and the ability for it to take women from many different genres of life and bring them together speaks high to the reason of knitting's survival.
Ravelry has a slogan: where my stitches at? that I find most appropriate. I'm sure they intended to really be talking about the stitches, but I'm going to say my stitches are the women who I get together with every week and share triumphs, tragedies, and everyday quirks.
Meet Lorraine. 
She is a science genius, also known as an ocean mapper for NOAA. Last summer she took off to Costa Rica on a Habitat for Humanity build where she met the man she just married last month. She's adventurous and interesting. Almost everything that comes off of her hook is a gift for someone she loves.
Meet Hillary.
She is a vegan and a lover of animals, Mother Earth, and life. She is working her ass off at school to become a nurse. She doesn't use animal products at all - so she sticks with cottons and linens and other animal-friendly fibers. She has a natural beauty that makes every girl around her appreciate and envy: with her perfect bangs and radiant smile.
She is one of the coolest girls I know. She exudes confidence and charisma in everything she does and is always up for trying something new. She is caring and generous, and has a wisdom that is far beyond her years. She attacks her fiber like she attacks life - comfortable with her foundation to be able to seek excitement and new adventure.
Miss Emily.
This picture is totally Emily - chatting away, surrounded by color and fiber and loving it. Tomorrow she will be a recipient of a masters in social work: a degree that she uses to social work (as a verb) everyone she encounters, whether they know it of not. She has amazing insight into how people function, and operates in life with a raw honesty that is interesting and inspiring. She is quick and methodical with her yarn, creating object after garment of perfect little stitches.
Crafty Stitches
Craft night has turned into yarn night recently: opting for yarning in some capacity rather than crafting in any other way. This week was no exception as Amy taught Hannah and I how to do hairpin lace. It's a crochet technique that creates long strips of loops. I don't have a picture of the contraption, but the headband (or belt) that resulted is pictured right (and is in my hair right now). You then take the strips and connect them together. While connecting them you can make different patterns. I'm not a very good directions person, so I just sort of charged off without hearing a lot of that. I did the regular strip, but did chunks of single crochet then chunks of double crochet. Then I just did a chain up either side. Amy showed me afterwards how you can gather some of the loops together and then plain chain in other sections to create patterns. Makes sense. Didn't do it. Maybe next time.
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Linen is Flax. 
The fiber that I've been calling cotton/linen/flax is, I now know, only flax/cotton - as the fiber expert kindly clued me in last night that linen is flax...woops. Well whatever it is, it's knitting up beautifully! This is the raglan top with the olive/burnt orange fiber from Maryland Sheep and Wool that I started last week. It's going slowly compared to other recent items, but still faster than I thought....so I've decided to make it into a dress instead :) I'm just below the belly button now, and this morning on the ride into work I started some increases to make it somewhat of an A-line from the belly button down.
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In Other News...
I'm moving to my new apartment next week with the roomies - exciting!
2 comments:
You for got one "stitch"..
Meet Heidi,
She has an amazing artistic eye. Her hands move like a machine while she knits or crochets. She produces at lightning speed and independent of directions. The master of top-down raglan tees. She is quiet yet present in every moment. She tells it like it is with grace and poise.
Haha, you're too cute.
All of our stitches...we make a pretty awesome pattern ::wink:: ohhhhhh...cheesy knitting jokes. No frogging us...(oohhh, again...)
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