Sunday, June 22, 2014

Quality Over Quantity

Well, it seems that Kingston knitters have better things to do than to go to knit-in-public gatherings, or perhaps they simply didn't go to the two events I attended, but that's all right because it was a case for me of quality over quantity. On Thursday, I headed on down to the Gazebo by the lake. No one else was there. I took a seat (mindful of avoiding bird poop), and hauled out my knitting (the about-to-be re-activated "Wheatsheaves"). It was blissfully peaceful, apart from the humming of a lawnmower in the distance.


Murney tower was on its hill to my right,


and the lake was on my left. Even it was empty of signs of life.


It was lovely. There is nothing about Worldwide Knit in Public Day that says you have to have co-knitters, or even an audience.
But then a few knitters did turn up. First Hannah, and her mum and little sister. Hannah is a New Knitter, with obvious enthusiasm. Look at that smile. Her family is moving back to the U.S. next week. Best wishes, Hannah, and keep up the knitting. I think her mum, who was working on a Hitchhiker scarf, will guarantee that.


In a little while, my friend Margaret appeared, with a piece of an afghan she's working on for a wedding gift. The fact that she showed up really shows her dedication to a) knitting, and b) me as a friend, given that she'd been over to our place for tea and knitting only two days earlier. After Hannah & Co. left to make dinner, Margaret and I had a cozy chat about walking tours in Britain, audiobooks, and knitting, of course.
While we talked and knitted, the world around us came to life. It might have had something to do with the fact that it was by then late afternoon and people were leaving work. A flotilla of sailboats suddenly emerged from the yacht club,


and a martial arts group began to cavort in the park.


So, in spite, or perhaps because of the lack of a crowd, the day was surprisingly satisfying.
Ditto yesterday, when I biked over to the Skeleton Park Arts Festival, where Purlin' J had set up a little tent next to her truck. Some grad students (male!) were there learning to knit, and lo and behold, there was Margaret yet again, and we had another knit and chat before I headed out to pick up some groceries.
My shopping included some heavy cream from our local Limestone Creamery for making whipped cream to go with the first local strawberries of the season. (Why does regular supermarket whipping cream have carageenan and other non-dairy stuff in it?) Finally they're here! The little, round, juicy berries make you realize that there's really no point at all to purchasing the huge industrial-farmed-in-California variety. Back home, I threw together my favourite recipe for shortcake, and yes, I will confess that we had strawberry shortcake for dinner. After all, who needs the calories of a main course + dessert? Another case of quality over quantity!