Connections

I don't remember to check Knitters Review all that often, but I was poking around there one day a couple of weeks ago and found this poll, which I loved. KR polls really only tend to scratch the surface of any issue, but I love that of the 1924 people who have taken this poll as of this moment, nearly three-quarters think that there may be something to the idea that knitting and spirituality are connected. That's 1400 people! And considering how many more knitters there are in the world who haven't taken the poll (I mean, how many thousands of people participated in the Knitting Olympics? over 4000? And how many more of us didn't participate? Like me?)... that's a lot of knitters who connect to The Great Something-Out-There (or, as I like to say, The Big Chick in the Sky). We could start a church. And if we can start a church, then we can start a REVOLUTION!

Ok, about the revolution...too much? Too much.

I think that knitters already have started churches, actually. Weekly knit-nights, S'nB groups (or whatever we're saying these days that isn't a contested trademark), whatever you call 'em. They're knitters' church. Come together, from your different worlds and busy lives, shut out the chaos and the obligations for just a moment, join each other in this space to learn and grow and share something of ourselves with another person who would otherwise be a total stranger, but who isn't because you have this common love for something that is greater than yourselves, bigger than each individual would be on his or her own. We don't always know why we do it, except that we have to -- something has called us to create, to build, to join, to love. Something bigger than we are is calling out to us, inviting us to be a part of this world that not everyone sees or appreciates or understands. And we can make the whole world a better place, simply by listening to that Something Bigger, giving ourselves to it, letting go of all that external stuff that's holding us back, and connecting -- stitch by stitch -- to this fabric that we are creating, and which in turn creates us.

And I don't just mean the physical fabric of the garment that we're making out of needles and yarn and time and effort. I mean the spiritual fabric, the metaphorical and metaphysical fabric, knitting us to one another, to the person who receives the garment we make, to the other people who share this calling to create, to the Big Chick in the Sky who breathed into us and gave us the needles and yarn and told us to be fruitful and multiply. That fabric stretches over all of us, bundling us together, blanketing us in this Something Bigger.

I am constantly amazed at the sheer size of the internet knitting community. I'm not a frequent commenter on others' blogs (and I have yet to receive any comments on mine, or even to check and see how many people read it), but I lurk on several, and I am amazed at how comfortable I feel peeking into the lives of these people I've never met, and how much I want to share myself with them. If I were to go to LA, I'd totally email Crazy Aunt Purl to see if she would drink wine with me. A friend of mine is getting married in Toronto in October, and if I go, I totally want to meet the Yarn Harlot. Et cetera. There are thousands of us out there, all lurking on each others' blogs, all wanting to meet (and occasionally doing so), all knowing that we're going to be fast friends the second we see each other -- already being fast friends, in many cases, in spite of never having been in the same time zone at the same time, even. Amazing.

This weekend I am going to Florida for a girls' weekend with two of my best girlfriends from college. Jennie is the one who encouraged me to get back into knitting, after having laid aside the needles when I was young. Ali is the one who sat next to me in our painful Senior Seminar, knitting away furiously on our sweaters and trying not to scream our heads off. And both of them are trying to figure out things to do while we're together for two days: there's been lots of emailing back-and-forth, what about amusement parks in the area, what about a baseball game, what about this, what about that??? And all that's well and good. I'm all for the Axis of Diva going to see a Devil Rays game. But what I really want to do is sit around with two of my best girlfriends and knit. Knit on the beach, knit on the dock, knit by the pool, knit inside where it's air conditioned and simply look out the window... whatever. I'm just happy to have knitters' church and connect with my girls.

Callous

Hooray for the new Knitty! I am particularly enamored of the lilies -- but I'm having needle issues. I only have two plastic size-one dpns, and two metal size-two dpns plus a really long size-two circular. This makes knitting in the round very difficult. I generally prefer knitting with larger needles (size 5 is on the small end), and after doing 12 inches of i-cord on my size-ones, my fingers hurt! A lot! I'm afraid that I'm going to develop a callous on the tip of my left finger.

In other news, I'm stalling on the SCJ. I have no desire to sew the hem flat. I still can't decide if I'm going to felt it or not. I don't quite like the way it hangs on me, but I can't figure out how to fix it. Meow, meow, meow.

Been catching up on lots of KnitCast listening this afternoon. And I found my Weekend Knitting (it was on the floor next to the bed, of all places!). And I'm trying really hard not to purchase any new yarn in order to save money for upcoming travels. Really, I just want to be on the beach in Florida with my girls, sipping fuzzy drinks and knitting fuzzy goodness. Not getting callouses.

Where does the time go?

I cannot believe that it's July. I only get two months of summer this year (I'd gotten used to a cushy three-and-a-half. Ah, grad school, I do miss some things about you). Still, I have one more big trip coming up: a girlfriends weekend in Florida, followed by a week in New York City with Joel. There is much knitting yet to be accomplished before elementary school hell begins again! Oh, and I'm running vacation Bible school all next week. Man, I wish I could just sit there and teach the kids to knit. Knit for Jesus, kids!

And by the way, I totally didn't write that song I posted for the Fourth of July. L. Stone did (no, I don't know his first name), to the tune of Finlandia (by J. Sibelius)(and his first name was Johann). But I did grow up singing it in church. Maybe I should teach the kids this song.

Because Loving Your Country Doesn't Have to Mean Hating Others'

This is my song, O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine,
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean
And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine,
But other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
This is my song, O God of every nation,
A song of peace for their land and for mine.