Yesterday I drove out to the Los Angeles Farmers Market and this is what I saw. Knitters! Lots of them, all sitting and talking and well, knitting. Knitters in the wild, I tell you. Something I never, ever see out in my neck of the (out in the middle of almost nowhere) woods. One woman wandered over, watched all of us for a while, then asked if we were a knitting circle. It was a bit difficult explaining that most of us had never actually met before, though many knew each other online, at least sort of. The really funny part is that while much of the group was tagging along with Lauren, there was a completely different group of knitters who just happened to also be out in front of the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf when our group arrived. What are the chances of two unrelated knitting groups showing up in the same random public location at the same time?
Stomachs were grumbling, so several of us branched off to go find food, then it was off to the Knit Cafe with Jen (had a great conversation about Los Angeles en route as we drove down Melrose Place). This is where I realized just how few people I really knew there, even through blogs. This is probably a good thing, since I would have been much more intimidated had I had any idea of who anyone actually was. I mean, here was a luscious knit store filled with incredibly talented, cool, gorgeous knitters...what the heck was I doing there? I worked on Christmas presents and tried hard to blend into the woodwork a bit. Got to see a few things I haven't ever seen in person, like spinning (fascinating to watch) and an actual ball winder and swift in action.Afterwards a much smaller group walked down to Mel & Rose, a small store/deli with a mind-boggling array of candy, liquor, and other random gift items. Somehow we all ended up oggling the chocolate aisle (yes, there was a whole aisle devoted to premium chocolates) together, and everyone grabbed something to drink and chocolate to nibble while we all talked. Got to talk more with Lori, Julia, MJ, Andrea, and Lauren (and meet her boyfriend - definitely a keeper!) while we all knitted. What a great group of people. I really enjoyed talking with everyone and getting to know people outside of words on a page and pictures on a screen. All in all, it was a wonderful day. Many thanks to Lauren for putting it all together, and all the knitters who made it well worth the drive.
hi kathy ~ it was so nice to meet you! that was a lot of fun hanging out yesterday, and happily i still have some chocolate left ;)
ReplyDeletehappy holidays!
Thanks for coming Kathy! We are in Montecito but I will let you know if we have free time when we're back in L.A. I think it must've been the same Coffee Bean, just different sides.
ReplyDeleteIt was great to meet you! Let us know when you're up in LA again. I think the CA girls need to meet-up more often.
ReplyDeleteKathy--it was great meeting you! It was really nice to hang out *after* the meetup and talk some more. I hope we do this again!
ReplyDelete- MJ
Kathy it was GREAT meeting you. Talking about LA with others definitely helps me put my views into perspective. Now I'm going to go comb through your archives for some tasty recipes!
ReplyDeleteBTW, what does the "Links to this Post" feature do?
ReplyDeleteJen, I swear one of my first goals after the Christmas rush is to set up links to recipes and patterns on the sidebar so you don't have to search (damn Blogger and lack of categories!). I think the "links to this post" is supposed to be a trackback feature, though it's hard for me to test since normally there aren't links anywhere back to my individual postings ;-)
ReplyDeleteSo many people are knitting these days -- of all ages, from all areas. How cool. I like to see traditional things like this bringing people together. Glad you had fun.
ReplyDelete