Postcards from the Great Rhody Yarn Crawl of 2013

What I liked about this event: friendly folks, beautiful yarn, fiber animals, and a great sense of knitting community.

Knitting designer and ER physician, plus two progeny, all modeling Mom's handknits.  www.casapinka.typepad.com

Friendly Shadow Pines alpacas modeling fawn-colored fleece outside of Eneri Knits, Exeter RI.

Barn of knitting people at Mt. Hope Farm.

Above:  Stitchy McYarnpants and the collected works of Stitchy McYarnpants

I bought this mug from a talented Rhode Island potter.  Check out Rising Sun Earthworks

Linda Perry of Thistedown Studio was one of several vendors of beautiful hand-dyed yarns.

The Slater Mill Guild was well represented.

Stumbling around at Slater Mill

Today ends the Slater Mill Knitting Guild Knitting Weekend and I was damned if I was going to miss it, especially since I'd signed up for Helen Bingham's simultaneous socks workshop on Saturday. Small detail:  I've had a grotesque cold for the past week....Nonetheless I turned on the Stoic Resolve, swallowed a whole lot of OTC cold-nuking drugs, and I can tell you that for me, the entire five hours I spent there, was a total blur. Possibly the drug cocktail had something to do with this? The drive home was equally loopy. I seemed to be in the thrall of Solar Slowdowns, and expected to see ETs among the space alien corn as I reached the top of every hill with its reward of instantaneous blindness from glaring rays of the setting sun.

Helen Bingham teaches simultaneous socks.

After two hours of intense concentration whilst my brain moved in slow motion and enjoyed minor hallucinations, I determined it was time to press Reset --> Delay [48 hours] --> Start; so I packed up my sad attempt at two simultaneous socks

and wandered around the yarn artisans' marketplace for a while, running into my friends from North Light Fibers,

my neighbor, Linda Perry, the dynamo behind Thistledown Knitting,

Linda's beauteous hand-dyed worsteds

and discovered the fabulous sock yarn of Play at Life Fiber Arts, located on Etsy and in Fall River, MA.

Here the yarn stands in for H, who will wear sox knitted therefrom.

Was the jaunt worth it, given my subpar health?  What kind of question is that???

Fumbling around in the dark

yesterday evening, at the Hook and Needle Guild of Slater Mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, I was thrilled to meet knitting goddesses Amanda Keep and Norah Gaughan, who staged a trunk show for their employer, Berroco. They brought along a good selection of sweaters, which popped out of the darkness of the poorly-lighted rooms (a color-killing combination of extreme glare and extreme shadow) like what?   Christmas decorations?  Fireworks? Bright jewels?  Or something else entirely clichéd....

Amanda!

Norah!

How interesting it was to see the knitting up close, as well as to talk to these friendly and massively-talented gals.  Amanda's designs are updated classics (she told me she really loves to design accessories), and Norah's are always completely original.  She has a way of seeing form and possibility in knitting that's unlike anyone else out there.  I've been a fan of her work ever since coming across Knitting Nature, almost exactly six years ago.

Après trunk show discussion.

Providential and luminous

Deborah Newton gave a slide-illustrated talk to the Slater Mill Knitting and Crochet Guild last night, about her three decades as a professional knitwear designer.

And she brought sample garments, designed for magazines like Vogue Knitting, Interweave, and Knitter's. Afterwards it was very touchy-feely, as everyone checked out the knitting.

Prospective delights

Friday begins the first annual Great Rhody Yarn Crawl. Sponsored by Slater Mill Knitting and Crochet Guild, it runs all weekend. (Click on the GRYC link for a map and a "passport" to download.) I plan to visit an LYS or two to check out the merriment. Word has it that an interesting mystery guest will appear at Eneri Knits in Exeter on Friday between 5 and 7 p.m., and I'm rather curious to see whom that might be. Perhaps I will meet you there, gentle reader, as well.

Last Wednesday, at the weekly meeting of the Langworthy Library Knitting Association, our beloved founder, Jane Green, brought in her handwork for show-and-tell.

She knit this for a specific reason--namely, that she and some friends will gather, on the 29th of this month, to view the broadcast of Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding in Westminster Abbey, and as it is a lengthy production, they will require some fortification. Tea and cakes are the preferred refreshment of this discerning fan club, as we are six hours earlier than London, where no doubt folks will be quaffing more potent celebratory beverages:

I gave her Cakes and I gave her Ale,
I gave her sack and sherry.
I kist her once and I kist her twice;
And we were wondrous merry.

Please admire the beautiful delicate roses knitted from variegated sock yarn.

To this list of two prospective delights, I shall immodestly add another: my article, "Stitch and Seed:  Summer's Bounties," in the summer 2011 issue of Knitscene Magazine, on sale starting just about this week at many LYS, including Eneri Knits.