Stitching Season is upon us!

Sunday morning was most glorious. Purl and I sat on the deck enjoying the cooler temps and knitting. (Okay, I might be exaggerating it a bit. Purl rarely rests when outside. I mean seriously, everything moves thus kicking in her prey drive. Plus, she doesn’t knit…. yet.) The thoughts moving through my head were, “It’s time to start my Rhinebeck sweater! Oh yeah, no festivals this year.”, Andrea starts to pout at this point, but low and behold…. “I still can make one!” Kristy Glass is even making a “Show us Your Rhinebeck Sweater” video. How many of you are in the same boat? Did you have plans to go to a yarn event only to have it cancelled? Were you supposed to go to NY Sheep and Wool, too? I’ve been trying to come up with an idea to get this overwhelming sensation to fiber travel out of my head.

The last few years I’ve been traveling with three other gals: Marty, Gayle and Susan, to many of the wool fests looking for new yarns and notions to bring in the studio. I have dubbed us the “Mutton Girls”. When things were starting to cancel last year, we started to have our own little Zoom knitting sessions on my day off. This has been so helpful to relieve my stress. Have you been doing these virtual get-togethers with your stitch groups too? Now that the weather is starting to cool down a bit, we will try to do an outdoor meeting in person. I’ve heard that some of you meet at a park and bring a picnic or some treats and stitch. Or even in a backyard. This sounds so good to me. I miss this communal fiber craft gatherings. The Zoom Open Stitches are good but sometimes I want to meet in person. I have resumed Open Stitch in the studio on Thursdays and Fridays, but that’s just not enough. Come September (after Labor Day), we will make Open Stitch available during all the hours the studio will be open. The only exception is when there is a spinning class in the front sofa area. Aw heck…. let’s live life on the edge and start this week. That means you can come in and stitch as long as I am open. The 4-person limit is still in effect. You will have to wear a mask. I know it sucks. I hate them too, but I want to keep us all safe. I wish we had an outdoor space to stitch in connected to the studio. As the weather continues to improve, I’ll look for more dates in which we can meet at the park and stitch like we did in June. It was great fun!

It’s time for stitching season and boy, oh boy am I happy. It’s the whole package, cooler temps, wearing our hand stitched garments and accessories, squishing really amazing yarns. I’m doing my best to make up for visiting festival marketplaces. Look for many new yarns and goodies arriving in the weeks to come. I might have gone a little overboard, but I just couldn’t say no. I better tell Joe we need more shelves!