My Knitting Friends are the BEST!

I knit.

I knit every day.

I knit A LOT.

And when you are like me (you poor things) and you knit a bunch you want to belong to a group of knitters. Knitting is not a solitary pursuit, or at least it shouldn’t be. Yes, we all sit and knit by ourselves, sometimes in silence, sometimes in front of the TV, sometimes listening to books on tape. But we want to be with a group of like-minded people who we can talk to about our triumphs (Yea Tara and her first sock!!) and our tragedies…..and what we have had to TINK back (Knit spelled backwards), or if you prefer FROG back (rip it, rip it, rip it). Because, in the end, knitting isn’t a solitary pursuit. If you think it is then you should read The Friday Night Knitting Club. Knitters need to be together with other knitters. We spur each other on to try new things. We help with problems, both knitting and life. We play with pointy sticks…be afraid.

Two years ago I scored an invite for this crazy place called Ravelry. You can think of Ravelry as Facebook for knitters. It is a wild place to be sure and I have found friends there from all over. That is where I met Jess, who just happens to live about 20 minutes from me. She briefly attended the knitting group that I was, at that time, involved with. That group met once a month…most of the time. But there were plenty of times when the meeting would be canceled at the last minute. And most of the women who attended, but not all, didn’t pick up their knitting EXCEPT for the night that we all got together. They didn’t make any progress, there wasn’t a lot of learning and exchanging of ideas going on. They were really nice…but I was really bored. Knitters don’t like to be bored. It makes us squirrely.

Then Jess had the brilliant idea to start Tri-County Knitaholics. There were plenty of us that live in this area and who were connected through Ravelry. Why not! And so, TCK was born.

TCK meets every other week on Monday….but for some reason we tend to add “supplemental meetings” on the off Mondays so we end up meeting most Mondays. Funny how that works. We just like to knit together, so sue us. But if you sue us just remember that we all are very proficient with pointy sticks. Something to think about.

So where was I? Oh yes, my knitting friends are the very best. Now I remember…sort of.

Yesterday was Monday. We had knitting. We meet at Panera, cuz they let us take over one of the back tables and laugh and be, well, knitters. And we buy food too.

I get there. Barb and Kendall are already there. Where is Jess? She is always early. I turn around and there she is….

With these…..

Oh! Whose birthday is it? I don’t remember any other birthdays coming up. Hey, it must be someone else’s birthday. But that doesn’t make sense because I am the only one that has turned 50 recently. OHHHHHHHHHH.

You guys are so sweet!!!

I love boxes that have wrapping paper on them and are meant for me. And a tiara!!! Which I am going to get to wear in Panera.

At dinnertime.

SWEET!

No make-up, hair all fuzzy from the rain. Really nice look. Thanks Kendall!

  Oh what is in the box??? I was carefully opening the wrapping paper until they gave me permission to rip and tear. Old habits die hard. Grandma Pringle always made us save all the wrapping paper. NO TEARING!

Man that is a really good look for me. I am stunning with the half glasses and rolls of flesh.

What is in the box???

Is it…

No…..WAY!

Oh my word this is the most gorgeous blanket. And the color is perfect. And the blanket is perfect.

And you know what is so special about this blanket. It is that all of the squares have been done by the awesome women in TCK. They all participated. And they have been working on it for over a MONTH! Even Tara, our newest knitter did a garter stitch square. I know how much work this thing took for all of you to do.

I am touched beyond words.

Tri-County Knitaholics
Kendall, Jen, Barb, Erika, Jess, Me
(missing are Tara, Bonnie and Norma)

Thank you one and all. The gift and the friendship me more to me than I can say.

And I promise that I will work on my sweater today. PROMISE!