August at Anne's

Last Wednesday we spent our knitting evening under the darkening sky in Anne's back yard, sheltered by a  canvas & steel ramada that prompted many compliments.

 We sipped and grazed intermittently as we knitted for hours. With cozy lighting and great company, we wished we could stay longer.

Madie was there!! She still lives with Phil on a sailboat off the coast of Florida, but remains her lively self w/ spikey wit.

We laughed a lot, especially when Martha donned Nancy's costume for Burning Bush. Lady Gaga was one guess. (Photo courtesy of Anne)

Eight of us were there. September is scheduled to be at Susan's.

Intimate July Evening @ Martha's

(I was unable to post last month because I missed Knitting due to visiting family craziness.)

Four of us were able to abandon the blur of events that comprise summer to revel in a few hours at Martha's. We visited non-stop and didn't get any knitting done! Martha put on a beautiful spread, but we didn't eat much; it's just been so HOT! Drinking was a different story. ;-) She had a smart little metal fan from her mother that whirred away with hardly a sound, smoothly cooling us, and reminding us that "they just don't make 'em like that any more!"

Topics: Martha's changing work environment, Anni's changing home environment, Linda on a family visits and abuse of power, Moira on work and home. I don't recall any recommended books this month. If you'd like info on a yoga retreat in Mexico in November, contact Martha.

For conversations by knitters, for knitters, try news@KnittingParadise.com
I just signed up and receive an e-mail a day. So far I like it and have found some valuable links.

New personal discovery: blocking. I had completed all my afghan squares and "blocked" them by pinning and spraying. The end sizes were a little varied. When I took them into the Lamb Shoppe, Glenda recommended soaking, squeezing out excess water, and then pinning to a consistent square size. Mine are 13" x 13" and though I have a blocking board, it took 6 days to block all twenty squares in the recent humidity. Now I am to crochet equal numbers of stitches around all sides which should make it easy to stitch together. Only three months to go. :-(

 A huge thank you to Katy for keeping us organized!

August meeting at Anne H's.
Hope to see you there!
♥L

Red Wagon Market

This past weekend we held our second Red Wagon Market.  It was mostly a beautiful day, except it did start to rain just before time to shut down for the day.  But the good news is that it wasn't too hot.


What makes this market different from any other is that each month we feature a global nonprofit that helps people around the world.  This time it was Namlo Foundation, which builds schools and helps women start businesses in Nepal and Nicaragua.  They get to sell their wares and share their story, and the vendors each give 5% of their take to the nonprofit.  It's a great model and we all really like it.


The venue is great--Illegal Grounds Coffee House has a comfortable, leafy patio in front where we all set up our wares.  We had photographs, handmade purses, fleece hats and jackets, beautiful handmade silk pins and hair decor, jewelry galore, bath products, and of course cards made by me.  There wasn't a lot of traffic, but you know what?  We all had a lovely time, relaxing under the umbrellas, listening to nice live music, sipping great coffee and chatting.  I hope the crowds are bigger in July, but on the other hand, this was awfully nice.

Schedule from Katy, June thru November

June at Kathleen's
July at Martha's
August at Anne H's
September at Susan's
October at Nancy's
November at KT's 


Please note: if you did not receive, or take advantage of, the initial invite to be an editor, I can re-send the invitation. You follow the directions, and you too may post! :-)  

Quotation passed on by Nancy

From David Brooks (NY Times) current big seller "The Social Animal" 

"Joining a group that meets just once a month produces the same increase in happiness as doubling your income. "

Knitting @ Kathleen's June 15th!

RSVP to Kathleen. By then we should have a new mayor and city council. Perhaps there will be flooding in the foothills. And what to do about nuclear energy??

I believe that I am hosting July 20th.

Thanks to words of encouragement from Kathleen, I am back working on my afghan. Will I finish mine before Moira complete's hers? Will this happen before summer's over, and before Katy and Anni each knit five more intricate design pieces?? Before Melanie crafts her thousandth flower? Ah! The mystery continues...

The Purpose & Beginning

    Once upon a time, there was a small group of girls who grew up together, mostly, weaving in and out of one another's lives until they emerged to live in middle age all in one neighborhood. Most of them - but not all - engaged in sewing, needlepoint, and/or/but especially knitting. As lives, yarn, threads, and stories weave together, as artists add colors, the group of women added more friends, friends who also knit or crafted, but who especially created themselves in distinctive ways.
   Once a month, over years as we have grayed together (or not!), we shake off our job and family responsibilities to create a circle of needles, conversation, stories, resources, book recommendations, political opinions, and the tears and laughter of sharing ourselves. Just us, without age, without men, without children. Sometimes with dogs or cats.
    On May 18th, 2011, we found ourselves so bursting with ideas, connections, and recommendations, that we needed one place in which to share it all; hence KnittingBites was born!
    This month we met at Nancy's home. Present were Nancy, Anni, Moira, Kathleen, Jody, Melanie, Susan, Martha, & Linda. Missing in action were Anne and Katy; it will be great to see them next month!

Books to read: 

- Nancy: In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin (just out by Erik Larson of Devil & the White City); Matterhorn (Vietnam)

- Jody: Unbroken (WWII survivor), Warmth of Other Suns (migration from south to north) and The  Rising Tides(our error in thinking we can "tame" rivers)

- Annie - The Invisible Bridge, by Julie Orringer -- architect goes from Paris to Hungarian Labor camps during Third Reich, with a wild romance along the way!

-Melanie - The Emperor of Malady, by Siddhartha Mukerjee, the history of cancer. 

Wine Tasting -- at Kathleen & Phil's June 9, 6:30

Tempranillo we liked that Susan brought: Valdemar 2008 at Grape Expectations (cheap bin she says) Susan also recommended an article in the Style Section of the NYTimes, Grafitti's Cozy, Feminine Side, about street art created in YARN by crafters!

Linda highly recommends Tattered Cover's Authors Respond to Readers (happened in January). Says she'll let us know when the next is scheduled so we all can go.

Melanie provides a link on symptoms of heart attacks in women: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/heart-attack-symptoms/HB00054

Blog -- Some suggested we need a blog as a way of keeping track of, and interacting about, the kinds of info listed here. Martha mentioned Katy'd set one up and knows how. Moira said she'd set it up. (And Moira is busier than Linda, so Linda did it!)

Question for Katy about schedule: Is there a hosting schedule for the months ahead? Several folks volunteered.

If you wish to add info, you can either comment or send me the info to post @ my e-address.

♥Linda