I'm So Excited...

Tonight I have my first meet up with the Upper East Side Knitters. I've been so psyched about this I really can't wait. Tonight's meeting is "Double Points and Decaf" and I'm supposed to start a new project working in the round. I've never done a real project in the round before so this will be interesting. Thankfully there will be people there to help me if I get stuck. I hope the girls (and boys if there are any) are nice. I guess if its really awful I can always go home right? Making new friends can be scary sometimes.

The boyfriend helped me wind the skeins of new wool for his scarf last night since it calls for knitting in the round I needed the yarn ready to use for tonight's meeting. It was an interesting experience. I had a bit of a tantrum when the second color got all tangled and I couldn't fix it. There literally was feet stomping and whining (what can I say sometimes the five year old in me comes out). He had to take the yarn from me and untangle it because the more frustrated I got the worse the tangles got. Thankfully we got them all wound into nice neat balls so I can start on his scarf.

I'm also now a proud member of TKGA (The Knitting Guild Association). I know its dorky but I can't wait for my pin! It kind of reminds me of my sorority just one for knitting and well men can join and I think there might be less drinking but I've only been a member for a day so I can't judge yet.

This morning on the bus I also finished Zen and the Art of Knitting. It was a very good book and I recommend it highly. I like the way the author addresses the many issues that surround the idea of knitting as meditation. I also found her personal stories and anecdotes from other knitters charming and easy to relate to. However, what I really liked about the book was that she addressed the resurgence of knitting as a popular craft and how many young people (like myself) have taken up knitting. She discussed celebrity and its effect on this new younger knitting population as well as feminism and the role of feminine. It was nice to hear someone arguing what I have been saying (and my mother has been saying) for years. Why can't a woman be an executive and a mother? Why can't we be both? There are people who might look negatively on women, especially young women, taking up arts like knitting that are traditional anti the feminist ideal. But why can't we? We've proved we can be like a man in business but why should that mean we need to give up on the traditional womanly arts and roles entirely. We should be able to embrace both. Yes, in the office I want to be seen as a business person with no gender but at home I want to be a woman and there is nothing wrong with that. I particularly enjoyed this passage:

"No, we're women who are educated, who are competent, who can make out ways in the world. We want to spend time with ourselves, awake and aware, as we go. We want to relish the fruits of all out hard-won educational and professional pursuits by taking the time to sit still and count our blessings. We want to show others how much that mean to us by making a piece of ourselves for them to wear. We want to fuel that great creative urge into a productive outlet."

I think Bernadette Murphy is right. We should celebrate all our skills be they professional or domesic skills. We are all multi-talented creatures and we should celebrate that talent! We are women and there is nothing we can't do!