Do you remember my sister? I’ve mentioned her on the blog before. She’s incredibly supportive of SpaceCadet Creations but she’s never been a knitter, never been the least bit interested, and so when she helped me out at several yarn shows this past year, she was pretty much completely unprepared for the experience. Like when she saw the line that stretched all the way down the sidewalk as knitters and crocheters waited for the doors to open at the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival (“People are here already?!? They’re waiting?!?”). And her shock that vendors were going shopping and buying yarn from other vendors (“Why would they do that? Don’t they have their own yarn?”). And then the beautifully entertaining look on her face when she finally encountered her first fiber-crazed knitter (“These people are crazy!” ). Ah yes, watching my sister’s initiation into the world of yarn has been very amusing indeed!
I have tried, on and off for twenty years, to get her to try knitting and she’s never been interested. I’ve explained how relaxing it is, how grounding. I described it in terms of yoga and meditation. I’ve held mouth-watering yarns in front of her. But nope, knitting was my thing, and definitely not for her. And helping out at yarn festivals didn’t seem to make any difference at all. So I felt really confident when I chose the title for this series of blog posts: “Things My Non-Knitting Sister Says”. Because my sister does not knit.
And then, a small miracle has occurred. Somewhere in the world, the earth has moved, a sea has parted, perhaps the planet ceased spinning on its axis for one brief moment… Because earlier this summer, my sister learned to knit.
*insert sound of a record scratching*
I’m trying to remember how it came about, exactly. Did my sister ask to be taught? Did my friend Natalie just decide it was time she learned? I’m not sure but, either way, I just remember the two of them sitting on the couch, Natalie patiently showing her how to hold the needles, and my sister quietly chanting, “in, around, out, and off… in, around, out, and…”. By the time my sister left for home, she had that rhythm downpat, Natalie had given her the needles, and she had a brand-new skein of SpaceCadet yarn cast on for a garter stitch scarf.
Weeks went by and I heard nothing. I was almost afraid to ask, imagining the needles untouched, the cast-on stitches left exactly as they had been when she left. And then, at last, a text message… it said, “I don’t know what you’ve done to me, but I CANNOT stop knitting. I’ve been doing it every day. This is amazing!”
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to the world a new knitter. And I ask you to welcome her into the fold, into our wonderful universe of fibery goodness. She is taking baby steps, to be sure — and please, do try not to spook her — but she is most definitely on her way. I’m so proud of her! And if you are too, please, leave a comment and let her know — new knitters need encouragement, don’t you think?
And here’s the best bit — the next time you see her at a yarn festival, sitting there taking payments and handling the money, and you’re holding a huge pile of yarn and gazing at it and petting it fondly, you can rest assured she probably doesn’t think you’re crazy any more… Little by little, row by row, she’s starting to get it!
