Thursday, January 20, 2011

Don't Talk To Me About Knitting

Yesterday was my sister’s 35th birthday. That means that we are the same age for the next couple of weeks. I am heading out to Long Beach to celebrate tomorrow. I am excited for my sister’s birthday. Heck, I am excited about everything my sister does. I am just that sister. She, however, isn’t so excitable and became down right rude the day that I called her to tell her about my "knitting."
My husband is a driver. He loves it. He is one of those guys who just wants to take a road trip to nowhere because it is Saturday. One of his ways of getting me to agree to go anywhere on my weekends (besides the couch and my knit meets at Wolfe Farms) is to find a yarn store and impose a budget.  Don’t tell him but I would be content just to go and molest yarn in any yarn store without the promise of purchase.  This particular weekend we were headed for The Grove at Juniper and 30th located in San Diego, California. My husband knew that I really wanted to purchase a skein or 3 of Spud and Chloe yarn and this place sold it. Hours later we arrived. I loved the shop. He loved the area. I met Spud. He met a lamp. We spent a long time in that store. I left with 3 skeins of Spud & Chloe in various colors AND some fabulous fabric by Judipatuti.  2 years ago my friend, Teresa, gave me a sewing machine that was missing the foot? (the thing to make it go). For my birthday the following year, my (now) husband bought me the foot.  After taking forever to sew my first pillow (thanks to my friend Shannon), I was kinda hooked. I bought that Judipatuti fabric with the intentions of making pillows for my sister. I had already made my sister a pillow from fabric purchased at Joanns that was promptly claimed by my niece.  My sister asked if I would make her more pillows that matched her bedding.  Mind you that buying fabric for my sister equal less yarn for myself but the colors in the Judipatuti fabric were perfect. 
The next day I called my sister to tell her about the beautiful things that I acquired ending with the SURPRISE fabric that was super cool for her pillows. She wasn’t impressed.  After we got off the phone I received an almost immediate call back from her. “Sister, you know. I have been thinking. I think that knitting is boring. Don’t call me anymore and tell me about your knitting. I am not interested in it. OK.” Her cheery voice was met with dead silence on my end of the line. Then before I knew it, I told her “ No, it’s not ok. That’s rude.” I don’t know what all else I said before we hung up. I DO know that she didn’t say anything after I started talking because my sister very seldom receives resistance from anyone but damn, she was being rude to me. Not just rude, rude about KNITTING! O no she didn’t. She might as well have called me and told me that my child was ugly or stupid. To me, at that moment, it was pretty much the same thing.  You know, with knitting being all intimate and personal. First came the anger, then came the tears, then came the call to MY MOM! It’s funny now but not so. My sister, the one who has and wears all of my first scarves, whose daughter I knitted my first toy for, who recently was complaining that she only has my old knitting and nothing cabled or even a hat, THAT sister had really hurt my feelings and I was telling mom (I am, after all, an adult).  We commiserated about my sister’s current attitude and I vowed to my mom and husband that I would NEVER knit her anything AND she could just hold her breath waiting for those pillows. Good news travels fast and before long my sister was calling. I wasn’t in the mood.
We may laugh about it now but the boundaries are set. EVERYONE knows.  DO NOT talk crap about my knitting, or the fact that I knit. If you do talk crap about it, make sure it  doesn’t get back to me because there is nothing worse than an angry knitter.
Happy Birthday Sister, Mother of Janii and Michael, friend to many, bossy to all, and (yes) a life long requester and receiver of knits!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

What's In A Name?

I had the hardest time trying to come up with a name for this blog. I can't understand why. I know that I want this blog to be a way that I am held accountable for what I am knitting. I know that I want this blog to be up beat, happy, positive, and real (no.. that's not sarcam. Just keep in mind that we can't have everything that we WANT). I know that I want this blog to be a way for me to better connect with the knitting community - I love Ravelry but when I am on there I am too busy looking for (free) patterns or lurking in the forums to do much posting. I do find myself looking in on my friends and reading every one of their blogs. What does my aunt say? "Turn about is fair play." I want this blog to be my turn-about.

Knowing all of that didn't make it any easier trying to find a name (that wasn't already taken). My husband and I finally decided calling the blog what it's called because knitting, to me, is intimate. I love it, adore it, have a burning passion for it, and when I can't knit I am thinking about it. It's like I am cheating on my husband with my knitting. Knitting makes me feel good, empowered, proud, special, accomplished, well rounded, and productive. Knitting is personal and close to my heart. It's intimate. So there you have it...

I am excited about this blog. I plan on sharing the knitting hap's in my local community (guess I will have to get out to more often), the yarns, books, mags, designers, bloggers etc that I have a "KNIT CRUSH" on, my visits to LYS's, things I purchase, WIP's, FO's, Knitting Break-Up's (frogged items),and my personal knitting evolution.