World-Wide Knit in Public Day was June 11th, and knitters/crocheters all around the world will be celebrating all week long. So I thought this might be a good time to look back at some of my k.i.p. photos from this past year and tell you some of the stories that go along with them.
On this day, I was working on a ginormous gray scarf out of Rowan Big Wool at a coffee shop downtown. A woman sat down by me and told me about her trip to Colorado and how she thought her coffee group that meets on Merle Hay had missed her.
This was taken against some very lovely hotel carpet from my first knitting retreat weekend with my pals Sarah, Amy, Nichole and Melissa. I finished knitting a sweater in one weekend.
Downtown coffee shop again, where a man who claimed to be an inventor sat down nearby. He showed me notebooks of drawings for farm equipment/machinery that he had hoped to produce someday, along with a arboretum he wanted to build somewhere downtown. He asked if I had any connections.
And yet another downtown coffee shop knitting day. A man who said he was 80 years old sat down and filled me in on the history of boxing. Sugar Ray Robinson, Sonny Liston, Willie Pep and more.
Through my public knitting escapades, I've gathered a few things. Knitters in coffee shops are approachable and inviting. (Even though I normally just look down and avoid eye contact. Usually because I'm counting.) I am shocked at how often someone will sit down in a chair right by me to chat or tell a story.
The other thing is that everyone knows or knew someone who was a knitter. A grandma or aunt or neighbor or teacher. And that relationship always comes with a story as well.
So, to all of the storytellers and chatty coffee patrons, thanks for keeping it exciting. And happy Knitting in Public day.