Let's Knit Together

I look forward to knitting in a group (maybe because that's where I first learned to knit). It is fun being with people who have the same interest and who "get" why knitting can be so addicting!

So, I'm excited to be joining some friends this Wednesday to sit around a living room, knit, chat and eat goodies!

Event details here.

Knitting stories - Part I

Prompted by a new series of knitting books, Stories in Stitches, I want to tell part of my knitting story and record some of the more recent influences on that story.

Little Girls Learning to Knit and Embroider. ~1974 Sakeji School, Zambia. Photographer Unknown.

I learned to knit on Saturday mornings at boarding school when I was six (early 1970s) in Miss Hoyte's sitting room (or outside). Every term we were assigned a knitting project and some type of sewing project. Church ladies from Canada or England or the U.S. would send drawstring bags to the school, and we would pick out the bag we wanted to use for that term.

Besides at Saturday morning handwork, we would work on our projects throughout the week, especially during the midday rest hour, when we were required to quietly stay on our beds and read or do handwork (or sleep--but I don't remember that anyone did that).

Knitting with Mrs. Hess at The River after Swimming. Early 1970s. Sakeji School, Zambia. Photographer Unknown.

Another favorite time for handwork was "down at the river" after swimming or in the evenings when we were read a bedtime story.

One of the teachers who read to us was an excellent lace knitter. She had a book stand to hold the book on her lap so that she could keep knitting while reading out loud to us. Occasionally, she would have to stop reading and attend to her knitting, but mostly she read and knitted uninterrupted. She knit a lace tablecloth for every former pupil who got married.

(To be continued.)

Cooperative Press birthday celebration

My recent entry into the Twitter world brought this independent knitting book publisher to my attention--and a contest: http://www.cooperativepress.com/2013/01/happy-birthday-to-us-want-an-ipad-mini/

While, yes, it would be nice to win, I am happy merely to have learned about the books the press publishes. Here are just two:

History on Two Needles by Annie Modesitt -- from whom I took my one and only paid knitting class.

Ancient Egypt in Lace and Color by Anna Dalvi -- because it combines my interests in ancient history and knitted lace!

The celebration runs through the end of the month--check it out!