From Very Young to Quite Old at the LYS

It's a bit late, but what the heck, I'll talk about what happened last Saturday at the LYS. It was another fun Saturday, because lots of people showed up, both regulars and new customers. It is nice to see people buying stuff (though it would be nice to have needles to sell them--still, I love my LYS to bits).

I spent a lot of time helping folks out, which is my favorite thing to do. We didn't start the sock class really, though Nancy got a little bit going. That will continue next week. Instead, I just randomly helped out with whatever people wanted help on--the seat next to me had quite a variety of occupants with questions on techniques, pattern selection, yarns and such. I felt really good that I could help a relatively new knitter who'd been told she was knitting "wrong" to get her twisted stitch issue fixed. She was purling just fine, but wrapping in the direction that causes twists on her knit stitches. Once she saw what she was doing, her face lit up. She will be a "real" knitter now!And as always, I reassured her she isn't the only one to have that problem--I had it for a long, long time until someone pointed out my problem!

The Quite Old (but Treasured) Section

Another person I helped is probably our oldest knitter, Miss V., whose daughter comes in when she has time. Miss V. has a tremor issue so she can't do anything fancy, and she has some trouble remembering things like how to cast on. But knitting has meant so much to her in the last few years, as it has allowed her to make some simple blankets and scarves for her kids' kids. They will treasure those. Lots of the LYS staff have helped her out, and I have lately taken over Saturday duty. The blue hat you see on the coffee cup is her first hat. She did is almost entirely herself, too. I cast on and fixed one dropped stitch, but she did the rest. She even did a swell job on seaming it (she knit it flat). She was so happy with herself that she set right off making a larger one.

I just can't tell you how fulfilling it isto bring joy to her life and help her feel good (plus she is always sharing nuggets of wisdom and observations from a most unique point of view). She told me, "I need you to help me make my knitting good, Suzanne. I need a lot of help." (She is also not great with names any more.) While it takes a lot of patience to help people with physical and mental challenges, the rewards are great, too. I'm glad I've had a chance to work with dear Miss V.

The Very Young (and Anxiously Anticipated) Section

We had some other fun, too. This is the "very young" part of the post! So young it's pre-birth!

Both the future mothers that I knitted the Baby Surprise Jackets for were at the shop. Both loyal readers of this blog, Katie is on the left and Jen is on the right. The babies met belly-to-belly and discussed their love of knitted products, which they will both be getting a lot of soon. In this photo, the mommies are being bookends. As someone who used to work with pregnant women and new mothers, I am enjoying having these two around. I look forward to watching the little girls grow, once they show up in a few months. It's Katie's first and Jen's third, but as we all know every baby is different. There are so many people with experience at the LYS, though, they'll have lots of support from our little "knitting village." And I know they will primarily listen to their hearts and make decisions that will work best for their own family, not what someone else did in a different situation. Both of these women are smart enough to "take what they need and leave the rest," as we used to say in the old mother-to-mother support days!

I do hope Katie gets her maternity sweater done before baby A. shows up. If not, I am betting it will make a very nice "new mother" sweater as well. She is making something very beautiful, nonetheless.

I guess that's enough stuff about my local pals, other than to say that wow, the LYS looks very neat and streamlined after inventory. Tomorrow there'll be another blast from my knitting past to read about. Obviously I have more writing time this week than usual!