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••• Monday, August 04, 2003

A Knit in the Park 

Yesterday I attended a PicKnit in East Lansing with some Knit Blogging cohorts and/or some members of the Mid-Michigan Knitters Guild. I had a delightful time, and left all juiced up (not the tequila), with warm thoughts about the people I met and motivation to improve my knitting skills.

A special thanks to Tracy at SweaterGirl for pulling the Picknit together and for being the first to try my pie. I was also very excited to meet fellow Knit Bloggers Sarah (Handknitter),Lynne (Colorjoy!), Daphne (Serial Knitter) and Debbi (Trixie Chick) as well as knitters Tony, Judith, Anne, Jessie and Rachel.

I appreciate the warm welcome from all. And at the risk of sounding cliche or trite, I immediately felt at home with these fine folk. For those interested, Picknit pictures can be found at Colorjoy! and Handknitter.

Later in the day, a surprise visit from Threadbear Fiber Arts Studio proprietors Rob and Matt (respective blogs: BlackDog, Crowing Ram) appeared to be a crowd pleaser, particuarly with the group's veteran members.

You don't have to be around Knitting Blogville long to appreciate Rob and Matt's fibrous reputation 'round these parts. Doubly exciting was the generous Grab-bag they offered to every Picknitter. I'm happy to say that I ended up with the Bag Coup de Jour having garnered two skeins of "Cascade Indulgence" and a felted glove pattern by Nancy Lindberg.



Post-Picknit Musings
Knitting has always been a lone sport for me. Even though knitting groups have been around forever, I never chose to involve myself with any. So attending this event was a red-letter-shave-both-legs-and-all-three-big-toes kinda day for me.

I think that knitting all these years in solitude made it easier for me to become complacent about my skill development. Maybe it's easier to wallow in the comfort zone when there is no one to encourage or tease you out. Casein point: Yesterday I was kind of nervous with the idea of knitting and felting gloves out of the glorious Indulgence. When Tracy helped me carry stuff to my car, I shared with her my trepidation. Her quick encouragement and assurances that I could do it immediately lead to me thinking "hell yeah, I can do this. Pour me another tequila, Sheila. " ( I don't know where that last thing came from, as I hadn't had any tequila, although I smelt some).

And I came up with an improved skill development plan for making the gloves. Per Tracy's suggestion, I'm going to knit some mittens for warm up. Then I'm going to make my husband some felted gloves out of this old wool I bought for the sole purpose of learning how to felt. I have 90 skeins, plenty of room for Fullagains.

Tracy also took a second and showed me the continental method, and recommended that I try it out on an all garter pattern for starters. Today, already, I knit two rows in continental on my scarf. I must admit that it was slow going (remember Marilyn on Northern Exposure? think slower). I abandoned it because the Noro yarn is too goofy for developing a new left-handed yarn grip. But I have a plan to practice garter stitch doll blanket for my daughter. Poor thing's been wrapping baby in a towel.

Other Highlights of the Day
Entering a new social situation can be a bit unnerving. Therefore I was highly appreciative of Matt's dog getting a leg up on setting a newbie gaffe standard I could never achieve.

My Kutie Kia zipped nicely along the highway. On the ride home I was able to try out some bells and whistles as we went through a mini-monsoon. This baby picks up speed very quickly. I was worried about being pulled over for speeding then getting a second citation for suspicion of lewd and lascivious acts with an animal fiber. I'm tellin' ya, that Indulgence makes me think things.

I'd recently resolved to make my blog posts shorter.
I'll try that approach next time.
# posted by Marcia @ 3:51 PM


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