Finding our people

Last month, I was part of a rather large group of knitters that agreed to meet at the Okemos Road Cracker Barrel for breakfast and to caravan to the Detroit-area to attend Knit Michigan. Only a couple members of our group knew every person invited; so, for the rest of us, we weren't certain who to look for upon entering the restaurant. One knitter in particular was ecstatic when she saw another knitter walk by and was instantly recognized as a fellow fiber-lover because of the beautiful, hand-knit scarf that was worn. "I'm so happy to have found my people," she declared as she took her seat at our table.

Spending time with others who have the same interests and zeal for any particular hobby is always a treat. I experienced this first hand on two recent occasions. Last weekend (March 16th or so) was a gorgeous weekend in Mid-Michigan; the rain and snow melt from the previous week had ceased, the sun returned, and the temperature warmed to its highest in many weeks. Sylvain happened to be out of town, so Chuck and I had the rare chance to spend some quality time together. Last weekend was also a public-viewing weekend at the Fox Park Observatory. Being an amateur astronomer, Chuck is very active in the local astronomy group that hosts public-viewing nights at the MSU Observatory. Saturday evening, we decided to check out the Fox Park public night. In addition to the general public hanging-out and viewing the stars, there were several others there who were taking astro-photos. Chuck fell right at home with this group. He's always been interested in taking photos through his telescopes, but currently isn't set up to do so digitally. Once the general public had left, the photogs stuck around and hooked their cameras up to the Observatory's computers to manipulate their photos in PhotoShop and to take more shots on the Observatory's scopes. Almost immediately, the stars took on a new brilliancy on-screen, where a seemingly empty picture had been. Listening to them talk camera-specs, telescope issues, and their experiences, Chuck had found his people.

As for myself, I always knew where my people had been, but over the past weekend, had the chance to escape with them on the Guild's annual retreat. Leaving on Friday night, we spent the weekend at the DNR's RAM center. I am proud to say that I spent those few days knitting, eating, discovering just how bad I was at charades, and enjoying wine and the company of fellow knitters and the brave quilters who accompanied us.




I worked on only two projects: my second Rippled Baby Blanket for Chuck's cousin Aaron's new twins (made out of my friend Lynn's Cushy Color Sport in a custom purple-pink color that she dyed for me -- aren't I special?) and a pair of socks out of a decrepit stash of Regia that I had laying around. If you happen to know me, you'll know that I don't usually knit socks. But, I am going on Spring Break vacation this year to Florida and really do not want to have a heavy woolen item in hand to work on while in the insufferable heat and humidity of the South.






We also had a three-person project swap. I swapped 4 skeins of a wool that was hand-dyed by my friend Rachel and a children's sock pattern from Kalamazoo Knits. I ended up with a couple of wonderful gray hanks of cashmere (Thanks, Tracy!).




Capping off the weekend, we stopped by Arnie's Arts 'n Crafts (literally a big-ass store full of every possible crafting supply). This was the first time I've been to this store and half-expected to find shelf after shelf of the cheapest acrylic. While there was still plenty of acrylic, there were quite a few surprising finds. Goodies that I picked up were: a copy of the First Book of Modern Lace Knitting by Marianne Kinzel, two skeins of Happy Feet sock yarn, and two Scrubzilla kits. Overall, it was a pretty good weekend of time with my people.

Last, I should mention that the crocus in my yard knew that the first day of spring was on Friday. Soon, the rest of the flower beds will start to fill in and remind us that spring has sprung.