Celebrate Good Times!

The last four years developing Knitting: A Love Story have been amazing.  I didn't realize how amazing until going back to day 1, March 20, 2014, and reading Knitting: A Love Story day by day.  I am going to share the "Aha" moments, special times and all of the yarn shops, LYS and online, I've shared with you.  First, "Aha" moments.

1.  I think it was March 26, 2015 I came to the realization that I am a yarn collector not a yarn addict.  (Even though I have the physical symptoms of  addiction when I am not around beautiful yarn or knit every day.)  Collector is so much more socially acceptable.  I remember the fabulous quote from Dave Barry.  "There is a fine line between hobby and mental illness."  I walk the line.   

2.  It doesn't matter how beautiful the yarn is or how amazing a pattern, if it uses bobbins drop it immediately.  Do you remember this?

Every time I see a picture of of this amazing Helen Hamann design I think, "This is so beautiful, I really should finish it."  Then I remember the nightmare of using bobbins.  It gives me cold shivers.


​3.  Using a crochet hook as a cable needle.  Genius!

I was making a scarf with cables using bulky yarn.  The cable needle just didn't work right.  It quickly slipped through the stitches and there I was with my stitches raveling down the scarf.  The crochet hook was perfect.  You just catch the last stitch on the hook and it stays in place.  Necessity is the mother of invention.

​4.  Like a person with PTSD, I can step back into the moment when I first learned what ROY G BIV meant.  I am still amazed I didn't know this.  Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet.  ROY G BIV!

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5.  It was mind exploding to invent two perfect words to describe my knitting experience.  Knabbling:  Playful knitting or trying techniques, colors or stitches out with no particular goal in sight.  Kniterest: To search through books, magazines, Ravelry, Patterfish, or Pinterest to find the perfect pattern.

6.  I took a class at Crafty Lady Trio to learn different ways to use the iPad to support knitting like storing patterns in iBooks.  Having my patterns from Ravelry or Patternfish living in iBooks makes it possible to use patterns without being on the internet (like last April when we couldn't get our cable/internet hook up for several days.)  

7.  I felt so validated discovering the research around Therapeutic Knitting.  This book explains exactly how I feel about knitting.  It put words to my feelings

This is such a beautiful book.  If you haven't already read it, you should.  

​There were many special moments, but two involved Jocelynn Brown and the Detroit News.

One was the thrill of having Knitting: A Love Story written up in the Handmade column. . . 

The second was participating in the first Detroit News "Knit Detroit."  Both were life altering experiences.  I felt so validated.  

I thought one post would be enough to talk about my four years with Knitting: A Love Story, but it's not.  In Part 2 of celebrating Knitting:  A Love Story's 4th anniversary, I will talk about all of the knitting retailers I have talked about in Knitting: A Love Story.  See you soon.