The Generosity of Knitters ...

Hi Everyone! I hope you are all doing well and knitting along on this beautiful Thursday. Its beautiful here anyway, I'm not too sure where you all are but feel free to share in the comments below! I am here in beautiful Albuquerque where spring has sprung. I know that in other "places" it clearly has not. It keeps fooling you with 60-70 degree weather then snidely dumping another 6 inches of snow on you the next day. I don't think that's very nice at all. I prefer to live in a bit of a nicer place. Although Albuquerque can itself get a tad snidely during the summer, I will admit. 

I don't know what you all are working on but I can tell you, and briefly show you, that what I'm working on, a collaboration between myself and Phydeaux Design & Fiber is almost done. It's almost done so that I'll be blocking it tonight and shooting it on Lucy tomorrow. Its almost done to the point where those last few rows and the last repeat feels like it takes an eternity to finish it. Its almost done that it looks like this...


I can't show you anymore than this but I can show just enough for you to get an idea of just how much I have left to do. I even took a break from watching the last season of the Sopranos & knitting to write this blog entry. I feel pretty strong about this entry and I wanted to share it with you all before words escaped me. I've had a few experiences in the past few days that have really shown me the generosity of knitters. I feel very strong about the people that I knit with. The relationships that have grown between us is such that I would do about anything for them individually. I think I said it best in my very first blog post, "...since this very first project and that first evening at the Asian Noodle Place, my life has become filled with the best friends I have ever had in my life, the most talented people I have known, and the most generous, giving and caring people I have ever met." It is so true. And the best part? I have met more people since writing that first blog post, most importantly, my best friend Dilshani. Our friendship grew quickly but that's because, as another very good friend of mine put it last night, "you two have know each other many times before." I believe this must be true. 

Just to jog your memory, this is Dilshani...


One of the things that Dilshani and I bonded over rather quickly was that fact that I had lost my brother in a car accident several years ago and she had recently lost her mother to colon cancer. I felt very fortunate to be able to help her understand her own grieving process having been there myself. Moving forward several weeks, the production of "Hello! Dolly" starring Sally Struthers happened to coordinate with me losing my beloved cat Kona. Yet again, another grieving process. And for me, having no children, my pets are my kids. Losing a beloved pet is a very difficult loss to grieve. That same day, early in the morning long before Dilshani was even aware that it would be Kona's last day, she took it upon herself to send an email to Popejoy Hall, the venue for the production, and explain our friendship and how we have both helped each other immensely and how grateful she would be if she would be able to take me to see the show as a bit of a "thank you." She was given 2 free tickets to the production for opening night. To explain our friendship, how quickly it developed and how special she is would be impossible to do in this blog post. I will say that it has been many, many years since I've had a friend that was my age that I had so much in common with, felt so comfortable to be around where I knew I could truly just be me. She and her family are such a blessing to me. 

Our friend Venetia is a member of the Tuesday Night Knitting Crew, you can read about our Tuesday Nights here. Venetia is a fantastic knitter. Last year at the State Fair here in Albuquerque her lace entry won Best of Show. I was particularly delighted to see this as she won with one of my designs! Anyway, Venetia, upon hearing about the loss of my beloved Kona, was so heartbroken herself. She felt the pain too. A couple weeks later she was just as overjoyed to hear about sweet Audrey Grace entering our lives. She was so excited to see the pictures I showed everyone. Last night Venetia arrived much later than normal. On Tuesdays she works in Santa Fe and doesn't leave there often until 5 o'clock. She made sure to come a couple nights ago despite how late it was as she had a gift for me, for my family...


In quite a large pot she planted for us, from her existing plant, fresh catnip for Audrey Grace! We couldn't believe it. In this picture its a little difficult to tell but its a Large Pot. She reiterated to us that she was so sorry to hear of Kona's passing but wanted us to know how happy she was that we found Audrey Grace. So, so sweet.

I cant remember if I shared with you all my good news regarding Cascade Yarns. I'm too lazy to search back through recent postings to see if I'd written about it! Did I tell you? I received a message from Cascade Yarns through Ravelry offering to send me some samples of their yarn to design with! I was welcome to check their site to see if there was something special I wanted to work with but they were going to send the samples anyway. Well, the box arrived yesterday my friends and let me tell you. I think they sent a skein of everything they make plus what I  requested which was 2 skeins of Forest Hills in silver...which is their 50/50 merino and silk blend. Here is a pic of everything they sent...


I felt so blessed. I immediately started thinking about the kinds of things I could do with what they sent me. I think I may have to order some fillers but that's perfectly fine. I plan to design something truly fantastic with the Forest Hills silver on the right end there....there's 785 yds per skein in there. I've only ever designed 1 rectangular stole and I intend to do a couple more, one with the silver here. I have so many starting projects in this bundle here its hard to know where to begin! Thank you Cascade for sending me this goodie bag, I truly appreciate it and it will all be put to good use. 

Dilshani had a similar yarn blessing come her way yesterday and I was there when the box arrived and I was fortunate enough to see it all unfold. She had been in touch with a lovely woman who ran a yarn store in Virgina via Ravlery. The store owner had expressed her condolences in the loss of Dilshani's mother just this past September. Dilshani is also having surgery coming up Monday afternoon. She has been in a tremendous amount of pain with the issue she is having and has been in and out of the hospital as a result of it. Thankfully the issue will resolve with surgery, or at least that is the hope. The store owner sent Dilshani a goodie box of mass proportions. Dilshani had ordered 6 skeins and 10 arrived. This is what she ordered...


She ordered the Malabrigo on the left and the 3 skeins of Squoosh Fiber Arts in 3 colorways to do a Color Affection shawl. Here's the bonus yarn...


Isn't that a fabulous site! On the left is a skein of 400 yds of worsted weight yarn, on its left is a beautiful skein of lace weight yarn in brown and rusted tonals. Next to that is a rainbow colored skein of sock yarn and lastly, a skein of Sweet Georgia Cashlux Sockyarn. How nice is that?! Dilshani will no doubt be very busy for a long time!

Last but certainly not least, my dear friend Kathie that I see every week at Tuesday Night Knitting made something really pretty cool and she allowed me to take some photos so I could share with all of you. She is a huge fan of the Hunger Games series. I liked the first movie and haven't had a chance to see the second one yet but I suspect I will like it too. She made a Katniss Cowl. Now, if you look up Katniss Cowl on Ravelry you'll get a whole page of results. I understand Kathie's explanation a whole lot better now. There were elements of different ones she liked so she basically created her own version. Here is a Katniss Cowl similar to the one Kathie made in the sense that the cowl part around the neck is similar but not as big or wide. This one is done in herringbone stitch which Kathie also used and it looked fabulous except the pattern shows a back which is...funky. So let me get to Kathie's pics. Now that I've had that chance to see all the others it makes Kathie's that much better. Here's the front...


And the back...


And a closeup of the herringbone stitch...


And for you Hunger Games fans, I thought this was a nice touch....


So all in all, this post is meant to highlight the generosity of knitters everywhere. From my best friend Dilshani, to Venetia, Cascade Yarns and a Yarn Store owner in Virginia. Thank you for blessing us. Thank you for giving back to a community that gives so much. I am thankful to belong to the fiber community where the generosity of everyone is beyond what I ever thought I could be a part of. I do my very best to give back what has been given to me and to surround myself with people who constantly remind me of how blessed I am. I am lucky indeed...

Wherever you all are this evening I hope you are all knitting and feeling the love of a community that is generous beyond words. Give back where and when you can because it does make a difference. Have a wonderful Thursday evening and....Knit On!

Comments

  1. OMG, Claudia-designing for Cascade is truly terrific. Congratulations! I am so happy that you are so happy!

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