2006-05-10T20:44:00.000-04:00

From the president — Sue Davis
I’m sure you have heard the phrase, "the only thing constant is change"? Last Saturday as I drove Josie home from her obedience class I was thinking about how much she has settled down, really changed. Lately it seems that changes small and large are redefining who I am. Now that can be very exciting or downright scary.
Small change—I am now knitting socks, and I said I never would (never say never). Big change—I am leaving a career of 36 years. Small change – I now have six different sock yarns and I have finished one sock. (My niece wants to know what I will do with one sock!) Big change—soon I will have a lot more time to knit. Big change—maybe I will finish some of those projects (socks included) that currently seems to elude me. Whatever changes I make I will continue to learn and grow in my interests. Knitting socks refreshed my understanding of short rows, taught me how to graft a toe, and made me realize how much I really like using small needles. Accomplishing a new task is so refreshing that it makes you seek out more knowledge. And of course seeking out new information leads to meeting new fellow knitters. Now that is exciting!
Change! Knitting is a very old craft and yet it has come to the forefront of hobbies once again. Cycles never end, the seasons turn and what was old is new again—knitting…. Join us at the May guild meeting. Broaden your knitting horizons while sharing an evening with delightful, exciting women who share their love for creating with two needles and some yarn.
See you soon,
Sue

K2tog by Ann Strickler
"My husband does not clean toilets, or do the dishes, or the laundry, or anything much for that matter, BUT he’s still the best husband in the whole wide world." — comment from anonymous reader of last month’s K2tog.
In answer to the above, let me state that I have new ground breaking theories to assuage the disgruntled: All husbands are the best husbands in the whole wide world whether or NOT they cook, clean, wash clothes and/or fix stuff. It does not matter anyway because this month’s theme is about how "Cleaning is Creative". (Bear with me, I will bring this article back around to what is near and dear to our hearts. Knitting! You thought I was going to mention husbands again, didn’t you? Nope, I am done with them.)Yes. Cleaning is the new yoga. I quote from the wabi-sabi* house by Robyn Griggs Lawrence:"Every time you sweep, dust, or clear away clutter, you are creating clean, sacred—wabi—space. Wabi housekeeping is about so much more than just sponging and mopping; it’s about creating rituals that facilitate caring for your home and nurturing those who live within." (Even if those who live within are slobs who can’t place two little dirty socks in the laundry chute. Oops, I diverge.)" And, as the Dalai Lama has pointed out, cleansing your environment is a ritualistic means of also cleansing your mind." (Or going mad from disbelief that people related to me could be so blind to the piles around them. Oops, I diverge, again.) Ms. Griggs Lawrence than goes on to list wholesome, basic ingredients I already have in my kitchen to help me invoke the spirit of simplicity and old-fashion wisdom every time I clean my home. Now Ladies, please don’t misunderstand me. I am not making fun of wabi-sabi theory; I actually really like the stuff. But, of course, I’m also desperate for any rational for the way I live—very imperfectly.Back to Ms. Griggs Lawrence. She does write about knitting. She knit obsessively...for a bit. Then she gave it up, cold-turkey. "I guess," she says, "I fell victim to the knitting phenomenon...described as the lure of total control. There are so many things in life you cannot have to yourself; you cannot have total control. With knitting, you can. You can pick the colors, the pattern...every stitch is yours."Victim?! I think she got it all right except for that part. She would still be knitting if she had not missed the point. There is no "lure," a sneaky, deceptive sounding word. There is only "grace." When life is run amok with messy, oblivious kids, who get those genes from best husband in the whole wide world, sitting down among the rubble and the rabble to knit is to move ones soul into the light of saving grace and a moment’s blessed peace. She can call it control. I call it bliss.*the Japanese art of imperfect beauty. (That imperfect says it all for me.)

Knitters use their needles and yarn to create stitches that hold within them their thoughts and wishes. A pregnant woman knits for her soon-to-be-born baby. With her stitches she says, "I want to keep you safe, I want to keep you warm, I love you." A mother knits a sweater for her grown child who lives far away. Into the stitches, she knits the same message, with maybe a "Please call me" added on.

—Melanie Falick quoted in KnitLit, edited by Linda Roghaar and Molly Wolf

APRIL, 2006

2006-04-20T09:56:00.000-04:00

Holey Toledo Knitting Guild • Toledo, Ohio
April 2006 Volume #6 Issue #4

April 19
Show & Tell

From the President—Sue Davis
Fellow Knitters,
As I look out my window on this sunny, cold April day the blooms of daffodils, crocus and early tulips wave in the wind. Varying shades of yellow, purple and orange/red against greens and browns assure me that very soon a rainbow of color will fill my sight. Are you a seasonal knitter?In the spring and summer I knit smaller projects or sweaters from ribbon or cotton in cooler colors. Right now I am learning how to knit socks on two circular needles. As a group of us sat knitting last Tuesday evening, it was interesting to see the variety of colors and differences in size of projects. Two were knitting socks, one worked on a beaded purse knit on very tiny needles, there were two sweaters—one multicolored with bright cotton yarn and the other a pastel sweater on large needles—and to round it off, one knitter was working on a beaded shawl. What variety!

This month guild members will get together to brainstorm programming ideas for next year. Just as our group last week worked on varied projects, so, too, will we try to present you with interesting topics on a variety of knitting subjects. If you have ideas or hear of a technique you want to know more about, contact Ellen Kluz (kluski@buckeye-express.com) or Carol Sargent (csarge@aol.com).

Happy Knitting....Sue

Please bring or wear your Design
Your Own Sweater that you have been
working on all winter. Oh, you
haven’t been doing this project? Well,
bring something that you have completed
or are working on. Be prepared
to “talk about it!”