Knitter's

I love watching people who come to the store find the right yarn for their projects. I love watching knitters learning for the first time. I particularly love watching them bring back their projects to show them off. When they unwrap their projects to show us, there is a little look of awe that crosses their face as if they still can't quite believe that they did this, that they sat down with sticks and string and they did this.

Sometimes knitters come in, looking for a project to do, and they say, oh that is way beyond me, no way can I do that. Knitting is their comfort zone, where they go to feel warm and fuzzy, and they are happy right there doing one or two small things, that they feel good about.

Sometimes knitters are willing to step outside their boundaries, to go just a little beyond what they know how to do, and are ready to go a different place. It takes a kind of courage to step into the unknown. It takes a kind of courage to face small failures and to keep on trying in the face of them, keep on doing until they arrive magically at a completed project.

Sometimes knitters want a project so badly that they will climb insurmountable hills to get there, to complete it. Sometimes their love of knitting alone drives them. Sometimes it is an immense desire to learn or expand on a skill that takes them onward.

And then there are those times, those very amazing times when I feel the depth of a knitter's awe when she says 'I learned' and I am humbled in the face of knowing what those two little words mean.

Knitting brings a warm sense of satisfaction, a sense of comfort and awe, a sense of accomplishment, a sense of empowerment. And every time a knitter looks at a thing they made, they can feel that sense again.

Every day I see and meet amazing, smart, funny, determined, interesting, and sometimes courageous people. Being there and sharing these things with knitters is a gift and I am truly blessed.