First, and most importantly, there is a movement started by Wendy to keep Rachael from frittering away time reading knitting blogs since she is supposed to be moving and, by her own admission, is having a darn hard time completing the process. So, Rachael, if you’re fartin’ around on here—stop, back away from the computer, get back to packing, and finish moving! The knit-blogging community is keeping its eye on you!
And now that I’ve had the truly weird experience of bossing around someone I've never even really met, on to a completely different topic.
When you surf the web as much as I do to feed an insatiable need for information, you frequently find yourself at unusual sites, as was the case yesterday when I ended up on a site about conjoined twins. And since, Lord knows why but I’ve always had an interest in rare and unusual human diseases and conditions, I spent considerable time on the site learning about the different kinds of conjoined twins, the history of such twins, and the surgical advances that have been made in separating them. Eventually, I left the site with my head fairly swimming with facts about and pictures of conjoined twins, and went to check my Yahoo mail. The first message I opened contained this link. As you can imagine, this sent my brain into a complete tailspin. Had I really gone to a page about a new craft or product, or had I, in fact, never left the conjoined twins site at all and, instead, found a photo of some twins joined at the hand? Ack!
Knitting Knews
Not much knitting to report. I’m daunted by the prospect of seaming the pieces of the Aran sweater together so I’ve just been carrying it around in my knitting bag and poking at it occasionally. At this rate, the baby will surely be too big for it when I'm done!
I’ve started the second Catalina sock. What can I say except it looks very much like the first sock.
On the New Projects front, I started a chemo cap for a co-worker but was feeling too poopy last night to take even one measly photo. Besides, all you would have seen at this point would have been 1" of navy blue stockinette on three dpns. Yawn.
Had a lovely time with the Feral knitters (which was not unexpected but I have tried to join a couple of other mini-knitting-groups and found the attendees to be a little, well, odd). The knitters in this group, which included Dear Readers Sheila, Janine and Kit and some other Guild members, were funny, vivacious and ultra-talented. A couple of the founding attendees did make the interesting admission, though, that the worst way to get any Fair Isle knitting done is to get together as a group! And I can certainly see why. While the goal of the group was to spend focused, communal time on the delicate process of knitting complex designs using multiple colors, we were, instead, happily distracted with food from the food court (for me, a strawberry scone and a glass of milk), show and tell, projects that had nothing to do with Fair Isle, and discussions about books, patterns, yarn, Guild, the recent Gig Harbor retreat, and upcoming Soirees. And, knitting-wise, the bad lighting didn’t help matters any although, in response, one attendee actually whipped out and slapped on a mini-halogen-headlamp!
Thanks, Sheila, Janine and Kit (and Dear Reader Karen, in absentia) for a great time!
Posted by Ryan at February 25, 2004 10:24 AMOK, I feel so much better. Last month there was a "knitting meet-up" in my area-- one of those deals where you sign up online and can view the "profiles" of the attendees. Being new to knitting and fairly shy, I was actually quite frightened by the people I would have met-up with.... They were, as you said, well, odd. I didn't go, and I felt kind of bad, but I knitted happily at home that night with my honey and my kitty and had, I'm quite sure, a better time. Thanks for saying out loud what I was thinking! I hope to find a fun group soon who's more my speed!
Posted by: Cindy on February 25, 2004 01:10 PMRight back atcha, Cindy! It's nice to know there's someone else who has felt confused by the "karma" emanating from some knitting groups. But it's worth it to keep on looking or, as Dear Reader Mary commented on my blog, if you can't find what you want, start a group of your own!
Made a hop-skip-and-a-jump over to your blog and saw your news about being cast for the role in the show with Dick Van Dyke. Congratulations!! Keep us posted on how it goes! (Of course, we'll only let it interfere with your knitting time for so long... ;-)
Posted by: Ryan on February 25, 2004 01:55 PMI pondered a while about how to weave the varied strands of this blog entry into a response, with no luck.
I'm glad you joined up with the Feral Knitters, Ryan. It is a nice group of women who amaze me with their experience and wit! I've spent a number of years thinking through issues of how groups start and end, what makes them work, and how do people bond. The Feral Knitters started out slowly as one person's (well, my) idea. I wanted to meet with knitters who would support working on color projects. This initial concept has expanded to include, face it, just about anything! And that's fine. It takes a fair amount of time to develop friendships, and in my experience friendships grow out of people meeting regularly to pursue a goal outside of building friendships. I think that the FKs (oops) are well launched into this phase, although it takes time and some commitment to make it happen.
But the bottom line is that anyone can start a knitting group. The start can be slow indeed--the FKs are now 8 months old, and first few months were straggly for sure.
Lordy, I sound like some old fogey here. But it's a subject close to my heart, and many people have expressed envy that we in the Seattle area have an active knitting group, so I'd like to remind everyone that groups are not created by "someone else"--they are formed and nurtured by us (you!).
Owwww, fell of the soapbox. Janine
Posted by: Janine on February 26, 2004 06:43 AMLovely and very inspiring message, Janine! I struggle with this, too, because I'd like to start a group of gay (male and female) knitters/spinners/dyers/fiber enthusiasts in the area but have yet to develop a plan of attack. It doesn't help that we actually know very few gay people here. Still, I continue to mull it over and hope to make it a reality some day. And, in the meantime, I just continue to whine to the ever-patient TMK about it!
Thanks for posting this message, Janine.
Posted by: Ryan on February 26, 2004 09:01 AMI agree on the dilema of knitting groups. I'm just a cranky thing I guess, but I'm not really very fond of people in general. I don't work with the public in my job for a reason :) So, while I long for knitting companions (and like you, Ryan, would like to have a GLBTQ group)...I don't like people well enough to start one! ;-D I'm not nearly as antisocial as I sound....but I guess I am more of a private person. I have a few close friends, and that's it.
My 2 cents for the day. L
Posted by: Lisa in Oregon on February 26, 2004 02:05 PMWell, needless to say, Lisa, if you lived closer, you would be invited to join my (currently imaginary) group. Or we could be the founding members together! (Say, whatever happened to that man you were meeting with occasionally to teach him how to knit?)
Posted by: Ryan on February 26, 2004 02:28 PMInteresting thread. I, too, am rather a private person and I don't feel a pressing need to surround myself with others. In fact, I need a fair amount of alone time--I remember feeling rather panicky when I learned I was pregnant--another person around ALL THE TIME! My life is very full of people, though, so I put all activities to a test: does this add energy to my life or take me away from the activities/people I truly like? I'm pretty ruthless about dropping what isn't working, although I know myself well enough by now (after 50 years, I oughta!) to know that my instinctive reaction is to say no so I do make a point of giving new things an honest try before tossing them overboard! A knitting group that meets at a public place is my ideal social life: a defined time, no obligation to appear or not appear, no obligation to entertain, no obligation to enter into a deeper relationship if I don't want to. Just good fellowship, support, laughs--and then I find that I look forward to the gathering and hope to know the others more personally.
Strange people, we humans. It's all push and pull.
Janine
And I land somewhere in the middle of you guys, Janine and Lisa. I am totally a people person and really feed on give-and-take and lively chatter with friends and acquaintances--which is why I get so charged up whenever I go to Guild--BUT being alone doesn't bother me, fortunately. The interesting thing about a knitting group with good karma is, after a half-hour or so of initial chatting, if the group runs out of things to say and you all just sit quietly knitting, that's okay; in fact, perhaps the best of all worlds for you, Janine and Lisa--companionship without all the messy politics!
Posted by: Ryan on February 26, 2004 04:04 PMI have to wonder if *most* knitters and fiber artists are less people-oriented and more private. Even though it is possible for us to pop up out of the privacy in which we are immersed to occasionally appear outgoing, I think the nature of the craft we've chosen belies our true nature. It has always been an inner struggle for me to attend group meetings, hence the start of the soirees. Feral Knitters is an exception. But I do think we need each other or else we stagnate. I don't smell so good when I'm stagnating. :-)
Posted by: Sheila on February 27, 2004 09:05 AMI tried a knitting group, once. They met for three hours, knit for charity and distributed really cheap acrylic yarn for the projects. They all had known each other for ages and I didn't feel like I fit. I like you folks a lot more!
TMK, are you speaking to me yet? I am willing to speak to Steinbrenner about trading Alex for Ichiro.
Debra: Very funny. I don't think Seattle ever wants to see Alex again. The fans here don't seem to suffer hypocrites very well. There are still fans who throw play money at him every time he comes to Safeco Field. And it's been a couple of years now!! And, no, you can't have Ichiro!!;-) I think Jeter and Rodriguez plus Clemens and Matsui are enough for one team! ;-)
Posted by: The Mysterious K on February 27, 2004 10:17 AMSee how well I did? I'm only now finding your post on keeping me on task. I'm done! I'm done! Now I can fritter as much as I like. I love that there was a KeepRachaelOffTheInternetMovement, though, that makes me ridiculously happy, somehow.
And I find Janine's comments above, very interesting, ESPECIALLY the one about her feelings when pregnant - about not being able to be alone... Maybe THAT'S a big part of why I don't want kids....
:)
Posted by: Rachael on February 29, 2004 02:37 PM