Slow Knitting in the City of Roses

Yes, yes, I am way behind on details of our many good experiences, educational and environmental, in the place from which we are now voting--Portland, Oregon.  [NYC friends ask, "How you doing with the rain?"  What rain; it's been gloriously sunny.] 

Most immediate issue (after more and more

emails to our new congresspeople about single payer/public option health care legislation) is yarn.  How to store it and where it fits in my life.  Will I make something from this 50/50 wool and hemp?  Bought at some fiber fair a few years back, no memory of my plan.  Sunday we return to OFFF (Oregon Flock & Fiber Fest) in Canby. 

Will the PDX Knitters respond to the idea of Slow Knitting as a new category in fiberland?  Last year, they were  quite good-natured about modeling the Couverle Condom Amulet (a newsboy kind of cap.)  "So how is it different?" a knitter I met yesterday at the OSHER program (more on that later) asked me.

Needlecrafts have become explosively popular among younger knitters, I answered, so different from the days when one was simply "a knitter."  One example is the "Sock Summit" held at the Convention Center here August 5-7.  Someone needs to tell me whether the number who attended from around the world was 7,000 or 17,000; these women, and a few men, are intense and constantly producing.  That's fine but just one pair of booties is a big project for me.  Feels vintage to say to an enthusiastic foot-coverer, "I knit my last socks in the 1950s."

We all know that I definitely am vintage and have the incipient arthritis to prove it!  So Ron and I have had one of those talks about our visit to OFFF.  He will check out  fiber for potential additions to his spinning stash.  My own plan: locate other Slow Knitters.  But no new yarn purchases--would love to hear  ideas for  small things to make for family and friends-- with what's already on hand--like the 8-inch stuffed animal almost finished for youngest granddaughter. 

Speaking of Knitting Small...in  public ways to save the world as we know it--Oberlin College, my alma mater, has published a lovely piece about The Oberlin Condom Amulet in their current issue. Thanks to Google, the Alumni magazine editor called, then made the immodest proposal to the powers-that-be.

Rachel Walden of Women's Health News, an alum from a later decade, has mentioned it but there has not been a stampede yet from startled women over 50 gasping "...I never heard of that..."

By the way,  check out Rachel's post at Our Bodies Our Blog about a recent study  connecting  HRT and lung cancer...may raise more questions than it answers.

Comments

[Lydia]

If I knitted I would be a Slow Knitter, I'm sure!
Gloves are great, especially for arthritic or just plain cold, hands when it finally does rain in the Pacific NW.

I'd be tempted to try and find you in tiny Canby on Sunday. But we'll be in Portland for the matinee of Portland Opera's production of La Boheme. I've seen it before, but we haven't been to the opera for three years (too long!) and I am SO excited.

[Roxie]

I have fallen in love with small triangular scarves in drapey fibers (bamboo, silk, alpaca) knit on fairly large needles. Just start with two stitches, a stitch marker, and two more stitches. Increase in the first stitch, and in the first stitch after the marker,row after row after row. Seed stitch or garter or stockinette or whatever strikes your fancy. Bind off when you get bored. Embellish if you like. I've added beads, ruffles, and I'm thinking about crocheting a bouquet of flowers to adorn the edge. They are just the thing to caress the back of your neck when the AC is too cold or when you need a touch of color near your face.

Nice to meet you at OFFF by the way!

[pdxknitterati]

Welcome to Portland! I had a flurry of visits to my blog originating from your blog, and came to find out who you are. After a bit of hunting, I found your name, realized it was familiar, and wanted to tell you that my son (now 16) knit one red worm about 10 years ago after we found your other site. Cool! Or as we used to say in NY, "What goes around comes around."

We lived in Queens for 9 years, moved back here (home) in a February and it rained for 6 weeks straight. I had forgotten, even though I grew up with it. Enjoy the perfect fall sunshine! And thanks for the link...

[Jennifer]

Slow knitters-my creed and motto! Don't forget fingerless mitts. Indispensable handwear for wet and/or cool climates. Enjoy the newish digs! Sounds like you are settling in nicely. Large knitterly community there, even without Sock Summit, which sounded over-the-top to me.