In Which the Pirate Goes to SnB.

What a great time I had tonight at the SnB! There were less people than last time; I think the area is still recovering from the major storms we had last weekend. I’ve been hearing horror stories of flooding and downed trees. Fortunately, my neighborhood seems to have been spared from the worst of the damage. We had the lashing rain and high winds, but we didn’t even lose power – that’s a first for a major storm in the four years that we’ve lived here.

Progress on the so-called scarf: I finished the second ball of yarn and went on to the third and final ball, putting about five inches on. It will eventually be six feet long, which I think is the perfect length for a scarf. I also shared the pattern with a woman who was joining us for the first time, and showed her the trick of purling into two stitches, then the first one again, for the WS of the scarf. She mentioned that she used to belong to a needlecrafts club when she lived in India, and next time is going to bring some of the publications and brochures that they used to hand out there. I’m really looking forward to seeing them! I hope she will let me borrow one if I like the pattern.

Then the organizer of the group said something very dangerous(1) to me: “Are you going to go to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival?” So now, of course, I am. Even though I already have enough yarn to keep me occupied for a year. Even though I’m supposed to be watching my wallet. Even though — oh, who am I kidding, it’s going to be awesome!

Right now each of us brings her own project to work on(2), but we are considering starting a project to make blankets for charity. We would all knit squares of the same size, and some lucky volunteer would seam them all together. Then we would donate the blankets to a shelter or a hospital. I really like the idea! We also talked about meeting more often than twice a month, and I think we’re going to make the move to every Wednesday. That will be great!

(1) I am beginning to notice that there are many such dangerous sentences in this hobby. “Sock yarn almost doesn’t count as stash.” “Are you going to the Sheep and Wool Festival.” How can such an innocent, feminine pastime be so dangerous?

(2) We have no men in our SnB. It was one of tonight’s conversational topics – would a man join a knitting group, or is knitting too slow for most men?