William Morris tapestry, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
I cannot tell you how amazing it is to correspond with international friends for years, only to finally meet up face to face!!!! My Ravelry penpals from across the Atlantic have enlivened my life for years with forum posts, messages and chats about our common passion but knitting with them in person was even more delightful! Lesson learned: if someone seems charming and fun on ravelry they are probably 10x more so in person!!!!
StTRinians suggested the meetup when I had reached out on ravelry about hotel recommendations in London and so I posted an invite in the Kim Hargreaves group for a face to face meeting. Normally I am a bit shy about these things, but I had corresponded with many people for a long time, and my mother in law, the lovely Maxida on Ravelry, accompanied me to the restaurant. Still it was kind of funny when Andrea arrived and she said, “so you are not bots after all!”
Actually, it was kind of miraculous when each knitter walked into the restaurant and I recognized her instantly! Suddenly there all nine of us were, hugging and sharing a table at a wonderful café called Canteen.
What a fantastic time we had! I think we probably spent about four and a half hours there knitting, all told! Everyone was wearing her favorite Kim Hargreaves knit, which made it even more fun. We also all went around the circle explaining how we chose our ravelry names and trading knitting gossip. Scully had come all the way from the North of England by train with a friend and I could tell that many of us had gone to considerable inconvenience to make this meeting possible. How I wish meetings like this could happen more often. It was really amazing to have the opportunity to share the warmth and passion and joy of our craft with others who really get it and who have so much to offer personally. I was really blown away!
I just want to thank the Universe for this deeply satisfying experience and hope that perhaps someday I can meet up with these incredible women again. I have much more that I would like to say, but to make a long story short, when I returned from my trip, I slipped on the kitchen floor, hit my head on the counter, and am now quite limited in my online activities due to a rather severe concussion. So you may not see much of me on Instagram, Ravelry, or the blog very often for a bit, but of course I am still thinking of you! Rather than trying to write a few long posts I may write several short ones as my capacity to handle many images or to stare at a lighted screen is quite limited for now so I am avoiding Instagram and a post like this takes the better part of a day to put together. But I am sending hugs to you all!
Xoxo Leah