Wednesday Wonders #8: Little Old Florida Ladies

It’s Wednesday again, wow. This week I’m not feeling too perky, so this will be just a short sharing of some memories from a long time ago.

During the years I was in college and grad school, my mother was really sick. When I came home to visit, it gave her a lot of pleasure to sit in the family room with me and my boyfriend and watch television while she crocheted and I knitted. I’d eventually turned into a budding yarn snob after an unfortunate incident where I knitted two really nice fisherman’s ganseys from yarn purchased at my mother’s favorite store, only to have them turn into horrible stiff nightmares full of pilling, like only 100% acrylic can.

So, I went and found the local yarn shop of the day, which was a store that sold needlepoint, embroidery and knitting supplies in a little strip mall in Plantation, Florida (and I think it has since burned down). There I found a sweet group of retirees from New York and Canada who were having a wonderful time doing “condo knitting” and marvelous creations using fuzzy yarns. I guess this was the precursor to the fun furs of the early 2000s. These things do go in waves, I think.

They were my first real introduction to yarn that had natural fiber in it. They loved cotton blend novelty yarns and encouraged me to get those. That’s probably because it’s hot in South Florida. But at least they talked to me cheerfully during some hard times at home. And they encouraged me to try new things. I was really grateful to these ladies for encouraging me to continue on the path towards yarn snobbery!

The photo for today is a sweater I made from a pattern I got there. It’s an improbable mix of a cotton/acrylic blend novelty yarn, a 100% acrylic highlighting yarn in navy, and stripes of 100% angora. That yarn sure felt good. And it was so much fun making the big squares upon which the pattern was based. I ad libbed the rather spectacularly unsuccessful extra stripe up near the shoulder. First, it was ugly. And second, it put angora near my face and neck. That sweater tickled me, itched me, bugged me and made me hot. If I wore it in cool weather, I was cold. Oh well, it was yet another of Suna’s learning experiences. I’m rather full up on those today, so I will stop here and send you off on your own knitting adventures.

No links today—I can’t even remember what the name of the shop was!