Hosting Knit-Wits

The knitting group was organized long before we moved into our neighborhood.  The month after we moved in, one of my neighbors told me about the group and invited me to join.  I told her I didn't know how to knit.  She laughed and said there was way more to the group than knitting.  "We don't call ourselves Knit-wits for nothing," she laughed.

I decided then and there that just as I would never attend a book club meeting without reading the book, I wasn't joining a knitting group unless I learned to knit.  So...I went down to our local knit shop and bought some inexpensive yarn, a pair of knitting needles and a book about knitting.  I found some really good Web videos of various stitches and before the next meeting I was knitting a scarf, albeit a very simple one.

The knitting bug bit me and I began more complex patterns and different types of yarns and needles.  And so I became a knitter.  I especially enjoy when I am hosting the group.

Today was my turn to host the group.  I made a buttermilk pound cake.  I served it with lemon curd, fresh blueberries, and whipped cream.  For the chocolate lovers I made a dozen chocolate cupcakes.  For the light eaters I made sugar cookies.

The cake has already been cut!

(Thanks to my husband for making certain it tastes good enough to serve.)

Our group spends far more time chatting than knitting.  There were thirteen of us this afternoon so you can imagine there were several simultaneous conversations.  The conversations turn to a single focus only when we are showing our current work.  One woman is making an adorable baby sweater with little teddy-bear buttons.  Another is doing an applique.  I just love seeing what everyone is doing.

Unfortunately I cannot show you my current work-in-progress.  I'm knitting it for someone else and the recipient often reads my blog.  I will simply say the yarn is 100% silk and it feels wonderful in my fingers as I knit.  So I will show you one of the few things I have knitted for myself.

It's an alpaca shawl,  This photograph shows only one of the six diamonds that make the scarf.  The scalloped ends were very interesting, added when the body of the scarf is completed.  The wool is soft and very warm.

The best things about the Knit-wit group are that we socialize and enjoy each other's company.  We all join in to bless the prayer shawls, we discuss books, movies and television, children and grandchildren.  The more experienced help the novices.  We have a couple of knitters who love the challenge of a tangle of yarn and might spend most of the meeting working on a tangle someone brought.  It is quite fine to come to the group with no project in process.  We have only one rule.  WE WILL NOT DISCUSS  POLITICS.  We choose to remain good friends so we have politics-free gatherings..