Saturday, August 6, 2016

Willow Cowl from Sin City Knit Shop - Day 4

Do it again…and again and again…

Knitting, almost by definition, is repetitive.  Repeated stitches become repeated sets of stitches, which become pattern repeats, which create a garment.  That’s the zen of it—thousands of small stitches combine in a rhythm to become something greater that is pleasant and relaxing to create.

A quick calculation tells me I’ve accomplished nearly 12,000 stitches so far in this project.  That’s a lot for about halfway done, but it doesn’t feel at all laborious or tedious.  It feels comforting. Like accomplishment, or like the particular satisfaction that comes from creating beauty.

I went to STITCHES MIDWEST yesterday to be with lots of other folks who think like you and me.  How many millions of stitches met my gaze?  Impossible to say.  But as I wandered the aisles, conversations started up between total strangers about this yarn or that pattern.  

I said hello and hosted an impromptu giveaway of a copy of Coming Home to Texas (my novel about bison yarn) with Ron from Buffalo Wool Co.  I caught up with Donna from Lamb of God Farm whose herd of sheep launched the plot for my novella Bluegrass Easter.  

I bought the Queen of Hearts scarf kit from Washington's Great Yarns!, fondled oodles of yarn I thought about buying, snagged a new shawl pin from Lickin Flames, and generally reveled in my love affair with yarn and needles.  A nicer afternoon would be hard to come by.


If I could spend my life bouncing between yarn shows and book fairs, I’d be a happy soul indeed.

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