Sunday, January 6, 2008

A belated Christmas, and changes for the New Year



The other night I had a lovely dinner with the Knit Picky gals at 6th and Vine, a nice wine bar/cafe in Winston. We were all over the place in December so we never got a chance to all get together to celebrate the holidays. Finally this weekend we were all in town at the same time and with no out of town family visiting. I was able to deliver the last of my Christmas presents, which is a good thing since we got rid of the tree a week ago and they looked kind of silly laying on the floor in a pile where the tree used to be. And of course I got a couple of fantastic presents in return. Jo gave me a beautiful shawl pin/ stitch markers. Not only is it pretty and functional (in multiple ways!) but it was made by one of my favorite customers, Judy, who moved to California this past fall. I can't wait to wear it! And from Cassie I received a beautiful skein of handspun yarn. Working at a yarn shop and owning a handpainted yarn business, I really don't have much of a need for more yarn. I know, its shocking to here, but its the truth. The one exception is handspun yarn. Because that is something I cannot get from the shop or order wholesale to dye. Handspun is special. And when it is spun by a friend, its priceless. She also gave me a fist full of knitting needles that she bought when she was in England. She bought them for herself originally but found that she really never used metal needles, especially not straights. She wanted someone to use them though, rather than just let them sit in a jar ignored, because she values the history that they have. Unlike needles you buy new in store, these needles are antiques. Who knows what they have knit in the past. Countless baby blankets, perhaps. Or a wedding shawl. Or maybe horribly tacky christmas sweaters for all the nieces and nephews. Whatever they were used for in their past lives, I know that the person who held them in his or her hands was part of the same secret society that I am a member of. Even if she perhaps didn't know about the online knitting world that would soon come into being, she likely felt the same quiver of joy when a soft wool slipped through her fingers, the same feelings of pride when a finished item finally came off the needles. These gifts from Cassie are especially valuable to me because Cassie is moving across the country in a few days. Her fiance just landed a job at Google, which is a fantastic opportunity, but it means that they need to be in California. Not North Carolina. They are going to love it there, but we are going to miss them here. I have already started knitting with the yarn she gave me. I am making an entrelac scarf with it and some green wool/silk blend handspun that she gave me for my birthday in November. Its bedtime now, but I'll try to post pictures of it tomorrow.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I'm so glad you like your gifts. I thought you might be on the same page as me about the needles, so I'm glad they're in good hands. It's all I can do not to unpack the boxes with the spinning gear in them to tear into that optim. But it's definitely next on my list, maybe a laceweight single for a lace scarf. Anyway, I'm so glad you liked you gifts,and I do promise to stay in touch.