Overheard at Tonight’s Knitting Gathering

The Silver Spring Knitters had their weekly meeting at a restaurant in downtown Silver Spring. While we were eating, knitting and talking, a little girl came up to the table holding up a pair of circular needles, “Does this belong to any of you? I found it in the bathroom.” Jennifer, who’d been wearing them around her neck reached for them and said “If they’re size 3’s they're mine. They must have fallen off my neck.”

A knitter from across the table comments, “There’s a lot of needle sharing going on around here. At least it’s not too dangerous. Usually you wouldn’t want to pick up needles you find in a public bathroom, much less share them.”

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“I’m friends with a couple who got pregnant late in life. It was all so unexpected that they couldn’t decide on a name for the baby, so they named him after the cat.”

Small World

Yesterday I went to a charity knitting event at a local yarn shop. As each person walked in, she was handed a small ball of yarn and a pattern for a preemie hat (we brought our own knitting needles and crochet hooks). We sat around talking, knitting and munching on the snacks that were provided. Here are a couple things I overheard:

On perfectionism ...
Knitter A: Oh, no! I’m one row off [in sewing up the hat]. Should I pull it out and redo it?

Knitter B: I was a preemie and I don’t remember what they put on my head. Only a knitter would notice that mistake.

On UFOs...
Knitter C: There’s a sweater I started making for my son when he was ten years old. He’s now in college and it’s still not finished.

Knitter D: I can do you one better than that. I have a sweater I never finished for my husband and he‘s been dead 13 years!

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One hour before the event was over there was a contest (which was really a fashion show considering almost everyone who entered won gift certificates). When it was over I chatted with the two women who were seated on either side of me. They mentioned Ravelry and I told them that until recently I thought one had to have a knitting blog in order to qualify for Ravelry. Then one said, “My sister and I have a blog together.” Just two days before I had been reading a blog written by two sisters. It was all so fresh in my mind that I remembered their names. “Are you Cici and CJ?” Yes, they were! I was so excited. I felt as if I should get their autographs or something. It was like bumping into someone whom you previously only knew from television.

Then they asked if I had a blog and what was the address. I told them the address, but since I know it sounds quite foreign, I offered to write it down. A quarter of an hour later I hunted down a pen and wrote the address down for them. When Cici read it her eyes became wide. “I was just reading your blog this morning! I left a comment on it.” Then turning to CJ she said, “Her blog is the one I was telling you about on the way over here!” For a second I had trouble believing her, but then she told me things she had read on my blog and I was blown away. “We should get your autograph!” They remind me of my aunts. When I was leaving I wanted to give them each a hug, but I didn’t want to weird them out, so I didn’t.

In the end the event netted over 30 preemie hats to be donated to the neonatal unit of a local hospital, but meeting Cici and CJ was the coolest thing to come out of it. I was really wishing my friend Cabbie had been there (she had to work) because she’s the only one who would fully understand the total coolness of this meeting.