The Knitting Club

Wow! Almost a month between blog posts-very, very bad blogger! I don't know where the time went or what I was doing since I last blogged, but I must have been very busy and it must have been somewhat uneventful. Now, to get back on track.....

I finished my last trip yesterday. The other flight attendant, Pamela, was the bright spot of the assignment. We have flown together before so she was prepared for the knit-fest that occurs when I leave the 41017.

During the first day of the four day trip, Pamela mentioned that she would like to take up knitting. She watched me as I knit and purled, studied the motion of the yarn around the needles, asked questions about how the stitches formed a pattern and asked about classes. On one of our breaks, I fished out a project that I intended to frog (some Noro Silk Garden on Addi Turbos) and told her to practice knitting on it. She took to knitting immediately and by the end of the day, she had about an inch of garter stitch completed.

On day two, I met Pamela in the hotel lobby at 5:15AM and she showed me her knitting. During the night, she frogged everything, cast on by watching a YouTube video and had another inch of garter stitch reknitted. If she could cast on, then she was ready for "the purl". I had her knit 5 stitches, purl 5 stitches and repeat to the end of the row. When we got to the airport, we found out the our aircraft had a maintenance problem and would be delayed at least 2 hours. Argh!

We set up camp in the Dunkin Donuts and pulled out the knitting. I pulled out an intricate fair isle pillow that I had just steeked (yes, I steeked!) and Pamela pulled out the Noro and Addis. A Delta Flight Attendant and her son walked by our table and instead of asking us about the delay says, "Noro Silk Garden? That's the good stuff. I'm a sock knitter." Another gentleman commented that he would like a sweater in Noro. And a fellow Comair Flight attendant, Susan (who also knits) walked by and yelled, "I just bound off a felted slipper and I did something wrong! I need help! Is that Noro?" I had to explain to Pamela that the practice yarn I gave her was Noro Silk Garden, made by a Japanese company with an ancient Asian secret for dying yarn that had a sort of cult-like following and that the Addi Turbo needles were the Cadillacs of Needles.

A few minutes later, an older woman came up to the table and commented on how lovely it was to see fellow knitters. She was wearing a lovely cardigan with thousands of tiny flowers embroidered into delicate, intricate cables. I could tell that the cardigan was handknit but it was too PERFECT! She asked me about my steeking and shared a tip for future steek adventures. She explained that she was currently obsessed with embroidered knitting (like her cardigan) and was hoping to publish a book on the technique. She said her name was Anna Zilboorg.

Anna Zilboorg! Suddenly, I found myself blurting "The Knitting Anarchist!", "Magnificent Mittens?", "Simply Socks?" I had never really run into Knitting Celebrity before and I was awestruck! My steeking and Pamela's Noro seemed small and insignificant next to her embroidered knits. We talked for a few minutes and like a good Knitwit, I gave her a Knitwits business card. She was on her way to Wisconsin to knit with "some old knitting friends".

Susan returned to Dunkin Donuts with her goofed up slipper. Her flight also had a mechanical delay. I tinked her bind off and showed her how to do a three needle bind off. She was back in business just as her plane was now ready to go.

While I'm no Anna Zilboorg, I do feel that sharing, teaching, and encouraging the love of knitting is the best part of being a knitter. Pamela and the rest of the crew were amazed at how much attention the yarn and our knitting attracted during our lengthy delay. While I hope Pamela continues to enjoy knitting, I really hope that she will discover belonging to the Knitting Club the best benefit!