Knitting at Jennifer Knits

Having a nice time visiting with my friend Leslie.




Knitting my new socks "April Fools"






-- Post From My iPhone


Leslie trying on some samples to knit her new yarn a soft and wonderful cashmere.

More about the Sock Summit

Remember how I told you about there being more knitters than golfers in the U.S.? Well apparently there are even more Sock Knitters than regular knitters or golfers. Tina Newton one of the organizers writes on her blog:

.....There were 12,000 signed up on our mailing list. This is the number we went by. Rule of thumb is you count that 10% of that number is your true customer base. Knowing our actual customer base, we took that 10% and multiplied it by four. In the non-knitter world, that would have been more than enough (and actually a bit of a financial risk on on our part and a huge leap of faith). How could we have known that not only would we be hit with more than the 12,000 but over double that? 

( that would be at least 30,000) ......

Did she say 30,000? And no they can't make it any bigger it's already the biggest knitting event of the year or maybe ever! Well I for one was lucky enough to get classes and can hardly wait for August to arrive. 

Answers to most-asked questions and comments:

-No. We can’t make it bigger. It’s already the biggest ever. It’s really big, and there isn’t more room at the Conference Centre, and we actually don’t have a responsibility to make sure everyone can fit. A knitting conference for tens of thousands of knitters isn’t a reasonable thing to ask of us.

-No. We can’t get the bigger ballroom at the Art Museum. It’s is booked and has been since we tried to book it before.

- No. We can’t put more students in all the classes. Class size is dictated by the teachers. That’s industry standard and if the classes were any bigger you would just be sad that the classes were so big you couldn’t learn in them.

- No. We can’t get Barbara Walker to do some extra lectures. She’s almost 80 and a retired and extraordinarily well respected matriarch of our community. We won’t be exhausting her.

No. we don’t agree that we are horrible people because you didn’t get what you wanted. We are very, very sorry you are disappointed. We are even sorrier about the server crash, because it made what we now understand was inevitable - a lot of disappointed knitters, a lot who think that if the server hadn’t crashed it would have worked out for them. The server slowed down for all of you. It crashed for all of you. Nobody got an advantage and we’re heartbroken that you’re sad. Write to us. We’re helping everyone as best as we can. Really. While we don’t think we’re horrible, we know that this feels horrible, and we want to make as many people happy as we can.

Too many UFO's

For those who do not speak "knitterease" which is a language unique to knitters, UFO's are Unfinished Objects. I am very "lucky" to own many UFO's, I seem to have more ideas and start many different projects than my life allows time for. To monogamous knitters who are knitters who only work on one project at a time, (I can't even imagine such a thing) this "lucky" label I've given my state may appear as Un-lucky. This kind of knitting is not for the faint-of-heart it scares even me sometimes.

Because some of my projects take many, many hours & days & weeks to complete sometimes I let them rest and something new catches my eye and off I am starting something new. There are advantages and disadvantages to this fickle sort of knitting. The advantage is that when I get back to a half finished project I look and think oh I have a head start and all I have to do is finish the other half. But the downside is that sometimes I forget all about the project and it gets "tired" and periodically I have to have a "frog it or finish it" week. Fogging is another knitterease term for unraveling something knitted because a frog says ripp-it. 

Sometimes this comes along accidentally as I am searching for something I remember I have and find something else and other times my guilt makes me go searching for that unfinished project I remember starting. Also my "stash" of yarn seems to be huge and I really can not buy any new yarn until I put some sort of dent into the boxes and boxes of yarn I'm storing in the spare bedroom. Which is not really a spare bedroom because it is certainly fully occupied with yarn and clothes & suitcases and coats etc. and there is no room to spare.

I have no rules but for the ones I enforce up on myself. There are no deadlines except for the ones I make up, I hate deadlines so I don't make many of those. Right now I'm trying to finish some baby things but feel like by the time I finish the child will have outgrown it or the season has changed. 

The other day I found this beautiful ball of red cashmere yarn that I had but did not remember what project I had done with it or what state the project was in but the extra ball of yarn was separated from the project. I put it on the bed and within a split second Lucy my puppy snatched it and this is what happened. I took this picture with my phone so the color does not really show up and it looks a mess and it was a mess. 

What beautiful yarn, fine lace weight but soft and luscious, Mongolian Cashmere in a beautiful rich red. It took me 3 days to unravel it this mess but for some reason I did not have the heart to throw it out. Testing my patience, if Lucy was not so cute and had not gotten under our skin she would be out the door.

Did I do something wrong Mommy?

But she is so cute and has so much personality so once in a while she likes to get into my yarn. I could share a few more pictures like this but I'll spare myself, Lucy must have been a knitter in a previous life. 

My dog is pushy and demanding!

Fee Fee my 15 year old beloved dog hates when I knit! She has figured out that if she comes up to me and sits down on the yarn that I'm knitting I have to stop!

I know it's been a long time since I've been able to shove her out of the way so I could write but at last she was willing to give it up for a few minutes. Big of her but what can I do she is what she is I guess at this point there is no hope in teaching her courtesy or kindness the selfish person that she is and always has been. I do not know how I've survived by her side this long. But I keep trying and hoping, miracles do happen you know. 

I hate it when she knits! I have told her many many times I come first! How many times do I have to tell her this? Some humans are just so stubborn....  gee sometimes I can not believe the burden that is upon me to try and teach her my way! I am the most important being in this household! Especially since the little bitch came to live with us. How I long for the good old days when it was only my brother who was a total coward and I ruled over. This new little bitch thinks she is the Alpha dog but I digress.

She likes to knit first thing in the morning when she has her cup of coffee. I don't know why she needs this coffee business but every morning it's the same thing! I wake her up and she is not happy about it, I'm an early riser so sue me. I take many naps in the day and I don't need as much sleep as SHE does so I wake her up. I am very careful though I never wake her up in the middle of the night she really gets pissed when I do that! Only in case of an emergency do I resort to that, sometimes I have to tinkle at night! Well it's not like I have a toilet an

d I can't reach the door knob so what am I to do? Pee on the floor, well sometimes if it's raining I will but that is another story and she really gets pissed when I do that. (Excuse the pun)
When

 we first wake up in the morning I like to snuggle, this is the only time of the day that I like to snuggle the rest of the day I am busy. My brother on the other hand, (God rest his soul) the fool that he used to be liked to snuggle any time SHE wanted. SHE called him, he went running! And now this little whipper snapper is trying to do the same thing! She calls her and the little bitch goes running. Sucker! She thinks she will like her more than me but that will never I said NEVER happen. I am the cutest, the smartest and I deserve everything I get. My hearing may be a little off and my eyesight might not be the best but I am still QUEEN of this house!

The Bitch

ps. thank you for letting me vent.

I'm so excited!

The day was finally here, Tuesday May 26 @ 10:00 am we could sign up for our classes at the Sock Summit. We kept getting eMails from Stephanie (the Yarnharlot) and Tina (Blue Moon Fiber Arts) that they were ready for the thousands of people who will be logging on at the same time. 

I am organized just like they told us to do choose more than first choices because it will sell out fast. I have my handwritten cheat sheet ready to go, but frustration I can't get in then I get in and at the last minute it kicks me out.

11,000 people tried and sure enough the server crashed! Stephanie told us that there are more knitters in the U.S. than golfers. Anybody I mention this to is always surprised and sort of acts like they don't believe me, like I'm making this up to bolster my crazy hobby.

Booo Hoooo we were all moaning and groaning. All the rules out the window! What do we do now? But I really, really want to take a class given by Barbara Walker. I love her books even though they may be dated a bit but a wealth of information and I love what I've heard about her. Quite frankly I thought she was so old by now and never coming out in public, but here she is on the list of classes at the Sock Summit

Calling my friend Joan my roommate, did you get in? No did you? Noooo .... another phone call .... refresh ... refresh. I got in oh but Barbara's class is sold out and Lucy Neatby's class is sold out. Cat Bordhi's class is sold out. I quickly go on Ravelry and check the "buzz" yup everybody is in the same boat. 

But I hang in there, I went and did a load of laundry feeling all disappointed and then I think I should try it again. A Miracle! I got in and got Barbara Walker's class and got Lucy Neatby's class and I'm a happy camper. But now I have to wait until August.

Here is a little detail about Barbara Walker, I find her fascinating. Cat Bordhi told me that when she visited Barbara's studio the walls were lined with Barbie dolls. She did her designs first for a Barbie, a miniature sweater or skirt etc. Here is what the Wikipedia says about her.

From Wikipedia:

Barbara G. Walker (born July 2, 1930, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a U.S. author and feminist. She writes about religion, cultural anthropology, spirituality, and mythology from the viewpoint of Pre-Indo-European neolithic matriarchies. She often uses the imagery of the Mother Goddess to discuss these Neolithic Matriarchies. Her most important book is The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets (1983). She also is an influential knitting expert and the author of several classic encyclopedic knitting references.

Barbara G. Walker describes herself as an atheist. In the book, The Skeptical Feminist: Discovering the Virgin, Mother, and Crone, she writes about her belief that there is no deity. However, she believes that people, and woman in particular, can use the image of the Goddess in their day-to-day lives. Her book Woman's Rituals: A Sourcebookis an attempt to show how she puts her "meditation techniques" into practice, and is meant as a guide for other women to do the same thing.

In the 1960s and 1970s, she authored several volumes of knitting references which have become landmarks for their comprehensiveness and clarity.^{[citation needed]} Her knitting treasury series documents over a thousand different knitting stitches. Other books considered mosaic knitting, for producing multicolored designs while knitting only one color per row, and constructing knitted garments from the top-down rather than the usual bottom-up method used in western knitting tradition. Her legacy continues with the reprinting of most of her knitting books, starting in the mid-1990s, as well as the publication of new contributions to the knitting literature.

Barbara G. Walker studied journalism at the University of Pennsylvania and began working for the Washington Star in Washington, D.C. While serving on a local hotline in the mid 1970s, helping battered women and pregnant teens, she became interested in feminism. The American Humanist Association named her "Humanist Heroine" in 1993, and in 1995 she received the "Women Making Herstory" award from the New Jersey NOW.

Bibliography

• A treasury of knitting patterns (1968) ISBN 0-942018-16-8 (reprint edition 1998)
• The craft of lace knitting (1971) ISBN 0-684-12503-X
• The craft of cable-stitch knitting (1971) ISBN 0-684-12500-5
• Knitting from the top (1972) ISBN 0-942018-09-5 (reprint edition)
• The craft of multicolor knitting (1973) ISBN 0-684-13405-5
• Sampler knitting (1973) ISBN 0-684-13263-X (reprinted in A fourth treasury (2000))
• Learn-to-knit-afghan book (1974) ISBN 0-942018-13-3 (reprint edition 1997)
• Mosaic knitting (1976) ISBN 0-684-14243-0(revised in 1997)
• The woman's encyclopedia of myths and secrets (1983) ISBN 0-06-250925-X
• A second treasury of knitting patterns (1985) ISBN 0-942018-17-6 (reprint edition 1998)
• The secrets of the tarot: origins, history, and symbolism (1984) ISBN 0-06-250927-6
• Charted knitting designs: a third treasury of knitting patterns (1986) ISBN 0-942018-18-4 (reprint edition 1998)
• Barbara Walker Tarot Deck (Misc. Supplies) (1986) ISBN 1-931412-72-3
• The skeptical feminist: discovering the virgin, mother, and crone (1987) ISBN 0-06-250932-2
• The woman's dictionary of symbols and sacred objects (1988), Castle Books, ISBN 0-06-250923-3
• The crone: woman of age, wisdom, and power (1988) ISBN 0-06-250934-9
• The book of sacred stones: fact and fallacy in the crystal world (1989, with Werner P. Brodde) ISBN 0-06-250921-7
• Women's rituals: a sourcebook (1990) ISBN 0-06-250939-X
• Amazon: a novel (1992) ISBN 0-06-250975-6
• Feminist fairy tales (1996) ISBN 0-06-251320-6
• Women And Religion: Sexism In The Christian Tradition (1997) [speech] http://ffrf.org/fttoday/1998/jan_feb98/walker.html
• Restoring the goddess: equal rites for modern women (2000) ISBN 1-57392-786-4
• A fourth treasury of knitting patterns (2000) ISBN 0-942018-20-6 (includes Sampler knitting (1973))
• The essential handbook of women's spirituality and ritual (2001) ISBN 1-931412-64-2
• I Ching of the Goddess: Divination Kit (Boxed Set with Cards) (2001) ISBN 1-931412-72-3
• Mosaic knitting, revised (2006) ISBN 0-942018-15-X

I usually do not post jokes...

But this one involves knitting and I thought it was funny. Sent to me by my friend Devra. 

A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about.

For all these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover. In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife's bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dills and a stack of money totaling $95,000.

He asked her about the contents. 'When we were to be barried,' she said. 'my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll.' 

The little old man was so moved he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness. 'Honey,' he said, 'that explains the doll, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?'

 'Oh,' she said. 'that's the money I made from selling the dolls.'