Bobble-icious
It seems to me that I have been trying to write a blog post for weeks. I wake up with really good intentions. I make my coffee, grab my laptop and curl up on the couch for a think and what I consider a chat with everyone. Then, before I realized it’s happened, I’ve been interrupted in one of the many ways that happens here, sometimes it’s the phone,sometimes a cat, but most often it’s someone comes in from the barn with a yarn emergency or a dye dilemma.
Although lately, most of the interruptions are related to Sock Summit, which is reasonable to expect since we’re mere weeks away. Shhh…. don’t say that too loud. Yesterday, I went to put an appointment on the calender and almost passed out. I know how many days away we are, but seeing it…well, that is a whole other kettle of yarn.
I’ve been wanting to tell you about. This design and it’s designer are very close to my heart. Working on the publication of this pattern has made me think about our first Sock Summit and how cool it is that we are here again. That full circle of life thing that I find such joy in.
My friend Anna (Zilboorg) designed this sweater just for me,hence the title,Tina’s Sweater. She called me one day the spring before last and said that she needed a project to focus her attention through a challenging time. She want to make me a sweater because I had put some colour back in her life. ( That sentence still sends me reeling.)
What do you say when your colour and knit heroine makes such a statement? With tears streaming down, your face you say, “Yes ma’am. I’ll put yarn in the mail. What colour do you want? “
Anna wanted me to pick the colour since it was for me. I chose Tumbleweed because I have a thing for anything green and it looks good on me, or at least I think it does. So I shipped off some of our BFL Sport yarn in Tumbleweed to her. Over the span of about 6 months, I was regaled with its progress or what I think of as its knitting into being.
I was very excited and, to be honest, a little afraid. Anna and I met because of Sock Summit. We met when I rustled up the courage to call and ask her if she’d like to be a part of Sock Summit. She said yes, she’d love to which made me cry. (Ask Debbi. I scared the daylight out her with that hysterical phone call and dance and song and squeal.) Hell, I was thrilled that she answered the phone, much less talked to me. So a “yes” was beyond thrilling.
We formed a fast friendship after that first phone call. I like to think that she and I are chromatically connected in some way. Maybe our souls have the same hue; I don’t know. What I do know is that my friendship with Anna is one of the best gifts I got from Sock Summit.
Anyway, why was I excited and afraid about the sweater? Well, it’s like this. Anna designed a pair of socks we were maybe going to use for the Rockin’ Sock Club. This was right at the beginning of our budding friendship. I still was rockin’ the fan girl thing pretty hard. Anna called it my tendency to gush and thought I should just get over it. So here come these socks in the mail from my knit heroine, no less, and for my club…—you can feel the excited crackling in the air right? I rip open the package and there I have in my hands a pair of socks covered in bobbles. You could have knocked me over with a wisp of cashmere. Bobbles? Really bobbles? Big bobbles. Lots of bobbles.
I was stunned for a brief moment until I realized that I was going to have to call Anna Zilboorg and tell her I was not a fan of her bobbled-covered socks. When that thought hit me, I lost it. Just lost it. Called Steph, had a good cry and then when I’d composed myself (this took hours), picked the phone up and called Anna. Of course, Anna was awesome. She told me to get over my bad self that we all had our own opinions and tastes and it was not a big deal. She then wanted to know what the hell was my problem with bobbles? She regaled me with the wonder of bobbles and we had a spirited debate over the bobble.
As you cans see, our friendship survived the bobble fiasco. I cut through the tape on the box containing the sweater, open the lid and pull back the tissue and there was just the loveliest cloud of green sitting there. I move over by the window so I can see better and pull this wonderful gift out and hold it up to the light and… what do I see?
Yes, of course, it’s bobbles. Tiny, elegant, perfectly placed little bobbles. It’s covered with them and… STUNNING!
I laughed and laughed. I laughed until I had tears running down my face. I so appreciate the wickedly impish side of life and certainly love seeing it so creatively represented in my friend. It’s one of my favourite things about her. Needless to say, I could barely contain myself.
I can’t imagine there is a way to love a sweater more than I love this one.
It wasn’t really part of the plan to put this out as a pattern; it’s more of a shared knit moment between two friends. However, every time I wore it or a knitter saw it lying around my house, they wanted to knit it. There might have even been a little begging. I was pleased to see I wasn’t the only one who loved it. So… Anna and I thought, well, why not share this sweater story? Knitters share, build friendships and community with stitches, which is the other priceless gift I received from Sock Summit. Another circle is joined with the sharing of this this sweater and it’s story.
I am so looking forward to being in the Sock Summit knit community again.
I want one in every colour!
