Omi-Wan Knitobi

It's become a great habit, our monthly knit-together (brei-eenkomst). We have our own little Stitch & Bitch going on, the girls and me. A while ago I asked them whether they would be interested in starting a local S&B here in Rotterdam. We pondered on the thought and thought of a good café but in the end we decided that we would rather keep it personal, small, snugly and cosy. And I have to say, although I love the idea of the S&B groups, I love the idea of our own group even more and I'll tell you why:

Enter -the grandmother- ... My 'oma' or as I used to call her; 'omi', well, she's my Omi-Wan Knitobi... The mistress of the universe when it came to knitting when I was, well... let's think... seven (or something). She taught me the basics and I still love her for it. I remember asking my Omi to help me knit some bloomers for my teddybear (named: Teddy). Baby blue bloomers for my baby blue bear because, oh my god, to be naked under a dress, uncalled for! Teddy, still in my life, somewhere in a basket so that he/she can still breathe but no one adult can see him/her, well .... he/she's still wearing them. I'm referring to him/her as he/she because, come to think of it, I never choose a gender for him/her. Although I did put him/her in a dress soon afther I got him/her and he/she has been wearing it since. (i'll have to read up on Freud to see what that says about me...)

What great times I had knitting at my grandmothers house, I remember it was great, but the only thing I remember actually finishing are the bloomers. And maybe a small pillow or two. The rest of my knitting I learned from a very strict schoolteacher that came in once a week to teach us the joys of fabric and yarn crafts (don't know the exact term). Oh joy, oh joy. Pitty she was about as joyfull as a nest full of dead kittens (sorry for putting that image in your head). Anyway you catch my drift, right? Oh and also, she used fabric glue that smelled like rotten fishbits...yikes, I can still recall the smell.

Ok, so I went from the knit-together, to my grandmother, to rotten fishbits. What's my point?
My point leads back to my grandmother, whom I love. My greandmother is actually me, but older, and when she was me, it was the 50's and things were pretty different. I don't know much about my Omi's life back then but I know she made the most of the life she had (post-war-time). One of the things she did, and that's were I get her genes, is organise things. So she started a bookclub and did that at my age, about 50 years back. Guess what... that same club... it still excists!!!! How amazing is that?! The exact same club, some new members, some members went on to do other things, but a steady base has been there since the beginning. Eat your heart out Oprah! I think that's so great, I couldn't get over it the first time she told me that. (not Oprah, my Omi...)

And eventhough I'm not going to áctively try to keep our knit-togethers happening for 50 years. I'd shudder at the idea of what that would do to my frienships: 'You are coming, I don't care if you have a broken wrist, you ARE coming' / 'What do you mean you don't like knitting that much, why don't you stab me right away... you're NOT leaving the group'! Ok, enough already... But wouldn't it be awesome if it just happened?! So that why, for me, a group of friends to knit with (knitwit...) wins it over a S&B (eventhough it's a great, great, great initiative!) Do both? Well, if I had that much time, I'd be my Omi's age. ;-)

Fellow knitters, may the Force be with you!

And to really, really finish Episode I, here's a picture of some tiny things I did, an I-pod bag (attached to it is a really cute crochet charm my friend Roos gave me), a sunglass bag with smallyballythings, Alain de Botton's 'Status anxiety' (a mustread in my status... according to my good, good friend Miriam who lend it to me). On the right you see a part of a 1970's hooded sweater desing that's on my 'to do list', and the start of my Dream Swatch Wrap

Those small bags are great to practise stitches on by the way, usefull swatches!