An Old Love Returns

So some of you may be wondering what I was doing this past Saturday morning, now that I've run the Rock N Roll San Diego Half Marathon and finished five months of training? No? Well, I'm going to tell you anyways, LOL.

I decided to revive an old love of mine: knitting and crocheting. I first learned to crochet almost 20 years ago. I didn't pick it back up for a long time. Then in 2005 I learned to knit and did that for quite a while. A couple of weeks ago, I picked up my needles and hooks again. There's something very soothing about making something with your hands, and being able to see the results and work-in-progress immediately.

So far, I've made an all-cotton dishtowel.

What I liked about this pattern was the little nubbins! :)

A closeup showing the texture of the dishcloth.


I've also made three other things, but they're for a gift so I can't show you until I've given them away.

I decided to be a little adventurous with my crocheting and knitting by mixing it with meeting up with strangers. I went on Meetup.com and found out that there's a knitting/crocheting meetup called "Fiber Therapy" about 4 miles from my house, at the Panera Bread! They meet every Saturday morning at 9:00am. So I joined the group and RSVP'ed. With slight trepidation, I went to meetup with the group yesterday. I wasn't too scared because Todd went with me to study the book he's reading for his next Toastmasters speech, and he brought his laptop for the free internet there.

I found the group right away. They were as welcoming as ever! It was really fun to knit/crochet with a group. I've done it once before, but this group was more fun and welcoming than that last group I went to meet. Plus that group met at a cafe really far from me.

I got in line to get a spinach and bacon souffle and a coffee. Then I sat down and started work on my secret gift project for later this month, while chatting with others. They thought I was a little quiet and told me so, ha ha. I told them I'm a lot less quiet after I've warmed up to new people. They chatted about an upcoming wedding, their kids, their projects, and all sorts of things. Turned out, yesterday was World Wide Knit In Public Day! So I was doubly glad I went and met up with the group!

Here are some of us, working on our projects.

L-R: Me, Lynn, Megan, Carole, and Carole's daughter.


That's Melinda.  (She took the previous photo.)

Carole's daughter took my camera and went around taking photos of people's projects.




After 2.5 hours, people started leaving, so I went to gather up Todd and found him like this:


It was quite a fun way to spend a Saturday morning. I'll be back again. Sometimes I'll still be running on Saturday mornings, but on the days I'm not, I'll definitely be back. Oh, and I'm proud of myself for going out and meeting some new crafty people. It's not easy for me to take that kind of initiative with strangers. :)

Oh, and I'm "supertwinkle" on Ravelry.com, if you're into knitting/crocheting and are there too!  I found the pattern for the dishcloth above on Ravelry.com.