Are you a social knitter?
And: last call for Targhee Sock yarn (not forever, just for the current pre-order)
There’s something really special about connecting with another knitter about our shared love of fiber art.
I remember the first time I attended Rhinebeck (the New York Sheep and Wool festival that’s happening this weekend in upstate New York). It was 2014 and I went with a friend on a one-day bus trip, organized by a local yarn shop, traveling from New Jersey to Rhinebeck and back in a single day. We left very very early that morning. It was my first time on a bus full of knitters. Everyone was chatting about what they were working on, what they wanted to see at the festival, which vendors they had saved all year to shop at. We talked about replenishing our stashes; we laughed about dropped stitches when the bus made turns; and long-time festival goers counseled that traffic would be bad, but, don’t worry, we’ll be there soon. My social anxiety melted away as I felt comfortable and comforted in the presence of people who loved the things I loved.
This one-day bus trip started an era of six years of annual trips to Rhinebeck where I made new friends, hugged and connected with Internet friends, and filled my social knitting bucket—that spot inside that longs to connect with other knitters about our shared love of knitting and to geek out, together, over patterns and color and fiber content.
These days, I look to other ways to fill my social knitting bucket. (I’ve written before about how Rhinebeck brings up both simple and complicated feelings for me.)
How about you?
How do you connect with other knitters?
How do you indulge in the social joy of sharing a passion for knitting?
This week, I wish a bit of connection for you: time to connect with other people who love craft and making things by hand just as much as you and I do. I also hope fall has well and truly arrived where you are, whether it’s the misty, cool, ocean-swept fall we’re having here on the West Coast, the crisp air but perhaps also wet and colorful fall of the East Coast, or the cool fall of the beautiful midwest with corn mazes and pumpkin patches. It’s our season, knitter friends.
xo Anne
I answered “something else” to your poll. I would like to be a social knitter and to have knitting friends, but barriers related to geography and pandemic make that pretty well impossible. I get by with Instagram and newsletters and accept a pseudo parasocial connection to others. But if you saw @knitboop’s post today (10/22) about festival accessibility that is kind of where I am at too.
I’m another "something else". Knitting used to be my most social activity in the Before times. The pandemic put an end to my weekly knitting group. I’m immune compromised and indoor group gatherings at my small and poorly ventilated LYS still are frightening to contemplate. I miss being with other knitters and sharing our creations and fiber excitement in person. I make do with connections on a Discord server and Instagram. It's not the same as real life, but they provide an opportunity to show what I've made, and to seek advice, which is much needed as a new spinner, and to see and gush over what others are making. I'm now a solitary knitter, but I am not happy about it.