July Musings

Contrary to T.S. Eliot's opinion that April is the cruelest month, I believe that this (dis)honor belongs exclusively to July. As long as I can remember, July has been, hands down, my favorite month. Besides the obviously glorious days at the beach and late sunset evenings, July also happens to be my birthday month. When you add the festivities of the Fourth of July, really, what other month stands a chance? (Sorry, no, not even December in my book.) So what's my gripe? Well, besides July's many benefits, it is also the most predictable. Within hours of the last of the Fourth's fireworks, you can almost feel the month slipping away uncontrollably. Is July not also the fastest month of the year? The fact that both March and July share the same thirty-one days is really hard to fathom. March seeems easily twice as long, does it not? Whereas we cannot wait until the end of March, we face the end of July with absolute dread. Perhaps this is because we all know exactly what comes next. With its' incessant back-to-school ads and increasingly cool evenings, the month of August lets us down every time. Halfway through it, we give up on summer entirely. In alarmingly short order, beach towels, pool toys and bathing suits are packed away for the winter. (Winter! Did I really say winter?)) People start muttering about bringing on September already and purchasing crisp new school supplies. Ughhhh... not yet, please, at least not for me.

What does all this have to do with knitting? Well, I suppose I could make a case about cooler weather, heavier wardrobes and the new fall yarns-all good things for a knitting shop of course. But really today I just feel like mourning the end of yet another all-too-quick July, my favorite month of the year.

Yarn & Thread

A particularly relevant quote from the International Quilt Study Center:

"Much of the social history of early America has been lost to us precisely because women were expected to use needles rather than pens. Yet if textiles are in one sense an emblem of women's oppression, they have also been an almost universal medium of female expression. If historians are to understand the lives of women in times past, they must not only cherish the Anne Bradstreets and Martha Ballards who mastered the mysterious ways of quill pens, they must also decipher work composed in yarn and thread."

--Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Lights, Camera.....

Roberta, looking jaunty in Noro

Donna, in Lobster Pot's hand-dyed "Whale of a Skein"

Patricia, in her first lace scarf

Cookie, in stylish droppped stitch cinched Tee

Vi and Karen in dueling Ellemyra Shrugs, hers in hand-dyed Patagonia, mine in Claudia's Handpaints Chunky

On Saturday, May 2, the Village Knitter hosted what was supposed to be a fashion show. Never mind that it turned out to be more of a fashion show-and-tell instead. (The fact that we were lacking a proper runway probably had something to do with it). Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and our turnout was a little less than we had hoped. But those of us who were here had a blast. We'll have to do this again sometime soon.

Easter Morning

Being of Italian descent, our family has its own unique way of celebrating the religious events leading up to Easter morning. During my parents' childhood, my grandparents and great-grandparents (as well as the rest of their strictly Italian neighbors in Brooklyn) would not allow any leisure activity during Good Friday. Lights and radios were shut off, the usual continuous cooking ceased and families flocked to the nearby churches to attend mass and celebrate the Stations of the Cross. A mournful mood was maintained with strict observers fasting from Good Friday afternoon until Holy Saturday morning, at which time a huge feast was consumed. During the several days preceding the fast, Italian women everywhere, often cooking together, prepared the specialties of the season, including various meat and cheese-laden pies, (most notably pizza rustica), grain-filled cakes (pizza grana), and both sweet and savory breads decorated with hard-cooked colored eggs. For dessert, there were always several varieties of Italian ricotta-based cheesecakes and pastries. To this day, each year, my own family still re-enacts this great festivity with enormous gusto. My two teen-aged daughters look forward to assisting their grandparents in preparing all the food which, of course, takes the better part of an entire day. Many dozen eggs, countless pounds of salami, prosciutto, cappocola, ricotta, mozzarella and sausages of every size and shape are consumed. It is a sight to behold and a taste to savor. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your own perspective...and waistline), it only happens once a year. Buon appetito!

Teaching An Old Dog

Gosh, I hate getting old. The thing about being old is that it's really of no concern until it actually happens to you. And while this occurs at different times for different people, it always catches you off guard. One day you just wake up and realize you're not as young as you used to be. Joints ache, your body's thermostat goes haywire and suddenly your mother is staring back at you in the mirror. It stinks, really. You'll see.

Why all this banter about aging and what, as usual, does it have to do with knitting? Quite a bit actually as these days it is nearly impossible to be a competent knitter without having the computer knowledge of say, Bill Gates. With endless knitting websites and tutorials, You Tube videos, amazing blogs, Flickr, and (damn it all) Ravelry... how's a person supposed to actually get any knitting done? As the Tsock Tsarina once wrote, "I can either knit or write about knitting but I can't do both." (Or something to that effect. Besides, she lies. Clearly she can do both brilliantly). Even if there were enough hours in the day to both knit and write, I'm so computer illiterate, it would take me forever to upload, download and everything-in-between. Honestly, I'm one of those people who breaks out a glass of champagne every time I successfully send an attachment to an email. Wherever do I get the nerve to maintain both a website and now, a blog? Please forgive me if it isn't yet...er, pretty. (I can hear your snickering). I'm working on it. (How do those people like Jared Flood or Jane Brocket do it?) Until I get it all figured out, I must depend upon the generosity of others. Just this past week, a lovely new customer, ridiculously young and barely knowing her knits from her purls, took pity on me, sat down at my computer and accomplished in minutes what has previously taken me hours to do. It made my head spin.

Slowly, I'll get there.

Spring Has Sprung

While the weather on Long Island may not exactly be cooperating, Spring has certainly sprung inside the shop this week. By now, Chris, our favorite UPS man, is quite accustomed to being all but attacked by our regulars as soon as he walks in the door. Fortunately for him, the shop was empty when he arrived today with a particularly large haul of new Easter egg-inspired spring and summer yarns. Among the goodies: a bright assortment of new Trekking and Trekking Hand-Art sock yarn; candy-colored Bombay cotton by Katia; Araucania's amazing new sugar cane yarn, Ruca, in muted multicolors too breathtaking to describe; also by Araucania, Itata, a new hand-dyed sock yarn in a luxurious blend of silk, bamboo & wool; new shades of Debbie Bliss Prima and Pure Cotton; lots of new Noro books and more. Gorgeous...all of it. I can't wait to dig in!

Are We Knitting Yet?

Our Tuesday Morning Knitalong Group

Contrary to what you might by now be thinking, we actually do get a fair amount of knitting done around here. Take my Tuesday Morning Knitalong group....please! (Just kidding, ladies). Originally referred to as the February Ladies (named of course after their first project), they kick off our week with an enthusiatic bang. Bustling through the doorway with coats, bags, more bags and if we're lucky, baked goods, they surely keep me on my toes. And although it's often difficult (like impossible) to get a word in edge-wise, their unbridled enthusiasm for the latest yarn, pattern or project is truly contagious. And can they ever knit! Within a few short months, they've completed their February Lady cardigans in Dream In Color Classy, gorgeous lined bags from the winter issue of Interweave Knits in Brown Sheep Superwash and are ripping through the killer Ellemyra Shrug (have you seen it yet?) in hand-dyed Patagonia cotton, perfect for the upcoming warm weather. My favorite thing about these talented ladies though, besides their amazing knitting skills is their incredible generosity- not only towards each other but especially to any newcomers that happen through the door. (Inserting my own little piece of unsolicited advice here is that if by any chance this is not the feeling you get upon entering a yarn shop, turn around immediately and find the nearest exit). Not that any of this should be news to all of you, but knitting really is about community. I get to see this every single day but come around any Tuesday morning (or Thursday night for that matter...but that's another post) and you'll see this age-old occurence in action for yourself. What a continual joy it is to share in this.