Thursday, November 15, 2012

Knitterly

It strikes me that knitterly entered my vocabulary a while ago and hasn't quite left.  It's sort of shorthand for a particular type of courtesy and helping out.  There are more formal expressions of this - Random Acts of Kindness, for instance - but mainly, it's just something knitters do.   It doesn't always work - I'm not completely naïve - but mostly, in practice...

This evening I went to I Knit London for knit group, for the first time in ages (I go to book group, but that's on a different night).  I usually finish work later, and it's a popular venue, so getting a seat is a bit of a nightmare; but I was able to leave early this evening and knew at least two friends would be there.  And I had a good chat with one; but also with someone I don't know that well who was planning a fantastic rail journey around India. Biscuits (waffeln/speculoos to be precise) had been brought back from Lille/Dunkerque. Stitch markers were lent.  A Herman cake was shared.  I came home on the train smiling.

It goes internationally, too.  Very recently (this week has been... interesting... bear with me; I have no idea when this appeared through my letterbox) I took delivery of this...

figginess

This was a prize for a KAL, from the lovely Pacasha at Younger Yarns.   (When I first opened it I thought "oh, I must have been mistaken about the "fig" colourway; this is a brown yarn"...  I HATES winter; have I said that??? but here it is against a genuinely brown background under a daylight lamp, which is about as good as it gets chez Greenside this time of year)  Glorious.  This is going to be my Christmas present to myself...

I know that on some level, donating prizes does a business good.  I'm pretty sure this happens, because the sponsors of this particular KAL are sort of notable for their empty shops shortly after an update. However, for me, as a recipient, it's a lovely thing.  I've won a few things on this particular long-term KAL and they come with little cards, and herbal tea-bags, and messages, from actual people who dye yarn, and it's lovely... and before the sending there's also a conversation about colours, and personal circumstances, and the general business of just getting on with life.

Knitterly.

1 comment:

gemma said...

thank you for the link, I popped onto the site and purchased some lovely fibre.

I really love to read your blog, its very positive and the pictures are wonderful.