Knitting Community

I was thinking today that I really wish I had a knitting community that I belonged to.  Don't get me wrong.  I love the online knitting community that I belong to, but sometimes it would be really nice to go somewhere - a friend's house, a coffee shop, a yarn store - and sit there and knit with other people, learning new techniques, hanging out, and making fiber friends.

I just came back from spending a few days in Juneau at a work seminar (for the record, I'm now able to communicate effectively and assertively) and on the ferry ride home I was lucky enough to have some company.  Allison (yes, I know, she has the coolest name on the planet) was on her way back from Juneau after spending the fall there starring in Perseverance Theatre's production of Leading Ladies.  (I had the pleasure of watching the show while I was there and it was wonderful and she was amazing in it...but I digress.)

Allison also lives in Skagway and happens to be a knitter and we have been talking for a while now about getting together and knitting.  But life always seems to get in the way and we've never hung out.  But I guess all it took was a long ferry ride to force us to finally get together and knit.

We sat there and chatted for a while and then once we pulled our knitting out I suddenly felt really self-conscious.  It was then that I realized that I've never knit in the presence of another knitter.  Oh, I've knit on a plane where there was a person knitting two rows ahead of me, but I've never just sat and knitted with someone I know.  Knitting is a very personal thing for me and it's something that I always do by myself to quiet my brain.

All of a sudden I started this weird neurotic internal dialogue:  "Am I holding my yarn right?"  "Why I am knitting so slowly? She must think I'm an idiot."  "Crap, I made a mistake and have to rip back a row. She must think I'm the worst knitter ever."  I continued to feel awkward until she admitted too that she hadn't really knit around other people either.  And then I didn't feel quite so bad and just relaxed and had a good time.

But I realized I wouldn't have been so weird in that situation if I actually had a group of knitters that got to spend time with on a regular basis.  I would LOVE to live in a place where I could go to a stitch n bitch evening or a spinning class or a fiber festival.  Sometimes I feel like I'm missing out all the way up here in the middle of nowhere with no LYS and no one who I can talk fiber to.  *sigh*    I'm just glad that I have Ravelry and this blog, because without both of them, I would have gone crazy a looooooong time ago.

On the WIP front, I have a couple things on the needles that need to get off the needles ASAP.  The first one is a scarf for the Red Scarf Project.  And the other one is a stocking for my nephew Jackson.  The scarf needs to be done first, since I have to mail it off tomorrow (eep!), but the stocking is pretty pressing as well since I leave for Ohio on Saturday.  It will be my travel knitting for sure.  Long ferry ride and long flights = rows and rows of stockinette in the round.  Can't wait!