Twists of Fate

It’s like the evening was pretty and sparkly and covered in gold!

First I got to meet PinkPurlGrrl for a really kick ass meal at Black Pearl. I’m far more amused at meeting at the Black Pearl considering it’s one of the “Talk Like a Pirate Days”, but managed to avoid the eyeliner, boots or really bad hair associated with most pirates. I would hope that I have better teeth too. Regardless, the food there is SO good. If you even remotely like eggplant, try the Lovers Eggplant - I’m not a huge eggplant fan, but that shit is to die for. ZOMG good! She didn’t even make me walk the plank to share a portion of her eggplant. My sesame chicken paled in comparison y’all.

It was really lovely to see PPG (which also stands for Powerpuff Girls, and believe me, she could so take Buttercup! Rrar!) again, and I’m afraid I went overboard with the sharing and offering to pay for stuff and, well, stuff. I’m not good with big social events, and there were at least 75 people at the meeting tonight, so I was a little anxious. I think I overcompensated a little…I spent much of the evening feeling like I was four again, twisting my fingers in the hem of my corduroy jumper asking, “Will you play with me?” So much fun. *snort* Thankfully, PPG is full of awesome, and I totally enjoyed hanging with her.

I had a wonderful time at the Seattle Knitter’s Guild this evening too! And Ryan of Mossy Cottage Knits came too with the famous Olympic Squirrel sweater made the evening that much sweeter. Two meetings in a single week! How awesome is that?

The focal point of the evening, and what finally got me off my ass to join the Guild, was Terri Shea, author of Selbuvotter: Biography of a Knitting Tradition. Terri was the featured speaker tonight, and she was lovely! Totally awesome, great presentation, and oh. The samples. She brought a bunch of the mittens photographed for the book, and they are gorgeous. I find it super interesting that she doesn’t speak a word of Norwegian, but has captured this craft, this history, this cultural thing from a region halfway around the world (or not so far if you go up over the Pole?), but created this wonderful guide to a tradition that’s lasted for over 150 years.

I love that knitting transcends language barriers, and that a craft that was so intrinsically associated with this region in Norway can now be read about by knitters all around the world. It’s a little bit like “Poems of Color”, which was about the Bohus knitting tradition in Sweden. A home craft where women, and a few men (who mostly knit for tobacco money! :D) could earn money by making garments that were both beautiful and long lasting.

I really don’t know why I’m so attracted to Scandinavian knitting - I’m pretty sure there isn’t a single drop in my genetic heritage, but the fact that you create such amazing, intricate garments from two colors? That’s pretty freakin’ mind blowing. The elegance of the patterns, the fact that many of them represent things found in nature and that they’re wearable art makes my soul sing.

It kills me that I didn’t have the money to sign up for the Nordic Knitting Conference that’s being held in Seattle in a couple of weeks…oh crap. I just saw on the website that there may be some slots available. Um…HM! Note to self: call tomorrow to see if there are any spots open m’kay? If I don’t get to go, they are producing a booklet or something like it with patterns that each of the instructors have contributed to, and I hope to get a copy.

One completely cool feature of the Guild that I had forgotten about until someone mentioned it? The lending library! I never ever thought I’d be able to see any of Alice Starmore’s rarer books, given the prices on the copies that are available in the aftermarket, but I got the Art of Fair Isle Knitting to peruse for the next month. YAY!!! How awesome is that for the $11 for the remainder of the year?!

Following on the latest Harlot tour stop, this was a wonderful knittery evening. Being in a room full of people who get it? Priceless.