Today, my friends Sylvie and Sophie and I decided to celebrate “Knitting in Public” day by meeting at Café Borrone in Menlo Park. We enjoyed a lovely chat while knitting our favorite projects. It seems ironic that whenever I meet up with a girlfriend at a café to knit, we are often interrogated about our knitting hobby by the people sitting next to us when we just want to enjoy a private conversation. However, today, when our group met in a very public place to celebrate our hobby, we were totally ignored. I think this conforms to some universal law—the less one wants to be noticed the more one is, and vice versa.
Is the craft of knitting dying out?
I don't mean this question seriously. But honestly, nine times out of ten, when a person accosts me in a cafe, they mention an older female relative—a mother, or grandmother, who used to knit, and they mourn the fact that "no one knits any more." This theory that knitting is dead tickles me because here my friend and I are sitting in front of this person, our knitting pattern books and yarn spread across the table, proving just the opposite! Yet the penny doesn't drop. It makes me wonder, do the avid spectators at these cafes react to my presence as they would to a wild buffalo or endangered bird in their midst? According to the Craft Yarn Council, there are 38 million knitters and crocheters in the U. S., so I don’t quite understand... Perhaps you, my readers have some theories about this?
My Victoria by Sarah Hatton has been seamed and is just awaiting buttons. However, there will be a delay before I can post the finished photos as I am flying to Paris tomorrow morning. Hurrah! I will instead be posting photos of any exceptional yarn, fashion or delectable pastries I encounter in my travels.
Just yesterday evening, I finished sewing a project bag dedicated to my Europe travels. It is made from a tea towel depicting Cambridge University in England!
The linen fabric gives a wonderful antique feeling to the piece. And just look at the fabulous men in eighteenth century costume at the bottom of the other side image! They must be Cambridge scholars or lecturers.
I lined the knitting bag with fabric that shows leather-bound books, which I thought was just perfect!
This bag to me represents the centuries of learning and culture that Europe offers, and I can’t wait to get there!
Happy Knitting, Everyone!