Fond Farewell, and Welcome!

Yesterday I had the bittersweet experience of attending a very nice farewell gathering for our friend Jen, who is moving to Michigan, as I have mentioned earlier. It was nice to see so many of her knitting friends at the very accommodating La Madeleine restaurant (the one near the outlet mall, locals--go there, they are nice!).

Everyone had fun catching up on projects and purchases, plus the restaurant was nice enough to let us serve a cake from outside the premises, so we got to have a farewell treat.

Dawn supervises the cake cutting. Jennifer did a good job.

Poor Jennifer hurt her knee in an accident too embarrassing to chronicle here, which will make moving a bit of a challenge. We can only hope that the fun collection of farewell presents and cards will make things a little easier for her.

Gifties, plus roses, a shawl in progress, and a foot.

So, perhaps not my best photographic effort. I'd put up more pictures, but Blogger's image uploader is not working right for me (they are working on it), so this will have to give you an idea.

It is so good that we have blogs, Facebook, email, etc., to keep in touch when people move away. It makes it feel less final. We can still share stories, finished object photos and questions about yarns. For all the ups and downs, it is great to have knitting friends, both near and far!

A lady in the restaurant came up and asked if people were knitting at the restaurant every week, and the attendees said yes, and invited her back. Isn't that the best, that there are always new people to see and get to know? I've learned something from everyone I have encountered in the knitting adventure world, that's for sure. So, welcome to the new lady--I hope she is there some week when I can come (sadly, it's too far for me to make it every week, due to having to rush off to choir practice many miles away). [I resisted an urge to make a joke for Pilar, so Pilar, imagine a joke here.]

I'd also like to welcome the 50th person to "follow" the blog on Blogger. I think it's a nice gesture of support to "follow" a blog you read, even if you don't read it on the Blogger interface. It lets the author know you're there (sometimes you fell all alone in the "blogosphere"). So hi there to JM, the newest follower! I admit that I read a lot of blogs, but I know there are so many others out there. Thanks to all of you who read and all of you who write--it's a good thing about the world that we can share our thoughts with others and get insight from what's going on with people we may never meet in person.

Well, my work starts back up tomorrow, so I had better finish that mitten. I just have to finish the top and do the thumb. Maybe tonight is its final night on the needles.

Farewell to People Who Don't Like Socks

There are a lot of very ill people in my family and social circle, and there have been some deaths recently, too. Two people important to the knitting community have recently passed away, as well, both of whom, apparently were not fond of socks.

Many of us knitters read the KnitU email list that XRX publications sponsors. For many years, a very nice woman named Gail was the moderator. And since KnitU is the most heavily moderated email list I have ever been on, it was a lot of work! She read every single post, passing on ones she approved, and commenting on nearly every one of them. It was more of a list where people wrote her than a list where people exchanged ideas with each other, because there was always the intermediary commentary. Luckily, it was usually quite enjoyable, part of the unique KnitU charm. I never really posted much to the list, though, because I mostly knit socks, love to knit socks, and love to write about socks, and Gail had very strong anti-sock feelings. After having my one feeble attempt to ask something sock-related sweetly put down, I decided to lurk on that list. I do realize most people found it a charming quirk, so I decided it must be my issue, not hers (but ya know, I don't like Lion Brand Homespun yarn, but I don't make fun of anyone who mentions it--I figure they are entitled to have different experiences and preferences from mine).

Still, I enjoyed reading what Gail had to say other than the sock thing, and was as sad as the rest of the knitting community to hear of her sudden passing. She had a lot of knowledge to share, and was very kind to others. There are lots of places where you can read about how to contribute to her favorite charity. A nice place, with a very nice tribute, is Dez Crawford's blog. Consider doing something in memory of a woman who gave a great deal to the knitting community!

Mary Walker Phillips also passed away recently. I had just been thinking of her when I found the Counterpanes book she wrote among my recently unearthed knitting books. I remember thinking that I hadn't really seen many other resources on these cool knitted squares--so it was interesting to read about it in the obituary (linked above). Now, I am not sure if Miss Phillips really hated socks herself, but the person writing the obituary seemed to feel that she felt her work was somehow "better" than the work of a sock or sweater knitter--and really put down anyone who was so unimaginative as to "just" follow a pattern. The obituary writer made quite a few swipes at the humble sock!

Humph! There is a world of creativity possible with socks, and that was even before the New Pathways series started! And even if you follow a pattern, it's just a suggestion. Nearly everyone I know veers off from the pattern's instructions in some way or another, not to mention the art of pairing pattern with yarn!

Still, I am grateful that people like Mary Walker Phillips showed up to shake up the knitting community, demonstrate how knitting can be used in art, and reveal that there is a lot more to the craft than taking your skein of Red Heart and making a ripple afghan (which you are still free to do if you want to--I do sometimes!). Do read the obituary--she sounds like a pretty fascinating person. I hope her last years were peaceful--Alzheimer's is a hard way for a creative person to go.