Me, at Sunny Rock B&B
I
am back from Canada, and instead of being a respite from my work, the
trip allowed me to re-connect with the joy behind what I do for a
living. I am a professional knitter; I am a professional
writer-about-knitting; knitting permeates every moment of every day of
my life. However, sometimes the daily hustle-bustle of getting the Knitting Daily
posts out leaves little space in my life for experiencing the simple
joys of being a knitter...and this trip, though short, was full of
little special moments that brought back these joys to my knitterly
heart.
The first sight that greeted me, 1700 miles from home, in a lovely
bed and breakfast hideaway called Sunny Rock (www.sunnyrock.on.ca) was
what you see in the photo at right: a pair of antique sock blockers.
Antique sock blockers
Sock blockers! And in one of the guest rooms, a vintage spinning wheel
sat in a bedroom corner. The oh-so-gracious (and funny!) owners of
Sunny Rock, Sally and Jan, upon hearing what I did for a living,
brought out a gorgeous handknit aran cardigan given to them by a
neighbor, and they allowed me to chatter on and on about staghorn
cables and honeycomb stitches and how cleverly the sweater was
designed.
The perfect place to knit
On
the wide veranda overlooking a river and waterfall were the perfect
chairs to sit and spend an afternoon knitting and chatting, admiring
the beautiful music of the water and laughing at the antics of the
beaver family who live under the dock.
One afternoon, I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, so I laid
down for a nap. When I woke up, my husband Nicholas had pulled up a
chair close by the bed, and was quietly knitting away on a pair of
socks he is making just for me.
The view from our knitting chairs
And
on my last day in the Toronto area, we made a mad dash to Lettuce Knit
(www.lettuceknit.com), one of the area's local yarn shops, to buy
Canadian yarn. I bought Fleece Artist and SeaSilk and would have bought
more, but my husband reminded me that Christmas was coming...so I
pointed out a couple more goodies in the shop and made sure I carefully
said the name of each one twice in his hearing.
Canadian yarn!
And
on the plane journey home, a young man, very puzzled by the orderly
tangle of circular needles and sock yarn in my hands, got up the
courage to ask what the heck I was doing. I explained the idea behind
knitting two socks on two circular needles, and he told me stories of
his grandmum knitting shawls and hats.
Everywhere I went, the mere fact that I was a knitter seemed to
bring out tales of family and friends, gifts and histories, often from
total strangers. Everyone had a knitting story, or a special knitted
gift to share.
I am so lucky to be a knitter. I am so fortunate to be able to listen to stories of how knitting touches everyone's lives.
The bounty of a Local Yarn Shop!
And
so, this Thanksgiving week, I am deeply grateful for all the gifts in
my knitter's life: For yarn, that sweet, seductive, magical substance
that I can never get enough of. For knitting needles, that quietly
click and feel so warm and useful in my hands. For the creative
geniuses (who humbly call themselves "knitwear designers") who come up
with lovely patterns so worthy of time spent knitting thousands of
stitches to bring their designs to life. And of course, I am grateful
for all the elves behind the scenes who tech edit, test knit, edit,
copyedit, layout, and otherwise make the patterns make the journey from
designer to book or magazine.
I am grateful for my knitting friends, and for my non-knitting
friends who politely compliment me on every knitted item as though it
were the Sistine Chapel of knitwear. I am full of gratitude for local
yarn shop owners, who are the heart of knitting in each town I visit.
And when I need something exotic, the online shops are there to send me
goodies from far away.
And finally, I am grateful for you, our Knitting Daily readers, who share your passion and your humor so generously.
We here at Knitting Daily wanted to share a special
message with you this holiday season—so here, just for you, a little
video greeting card from all of us to all of you.
Nicholas and I
Sandi Wiseheart is the editor of Knitting Daily.
A special thank you to our guest editors, Amy Clarke Moore, Kim Werker, and Lisa Shroyer,
for writing such wonderful posts while I was gone. And to those of you
who asked: No, I am not Canadian, but my husband Nicholas teaches at
York University in Toronto most of the year, so he was the loved one I
was up there visiting!