String Thing

StringThing’s 3rd birthday was preceded by a massive yarn swap. I think it’s safe to say there were hundreds of balls and skeins of yarn…

And a really grand yard sale: our biggest ever! Thanks very much to everyone for the amazing donations and extremely helpful helping.  We have built quite a yard sale reputation – at least one couple told me “We come to this yard sale every year!”  Usually we have trouble selling books, but somehow the book hounds found us this time, and it was a win for everyone.  The annual food dehydrator made its appearance (different one every year), and the annual garlic baker also made its appearance (same one every year).  My personal favorites were the Elvis Barbie, the record album of Charles & Diana’s wedding, and the Box of Tiny Things.


Highlights from the birthday party included bug-shaped cake, a decorative owl made of sea-shells, and from my own point of view, a very beautiful (and very useful) knitting basket, which has quickly become my new best friend. (Thank you!)

We’re taking a year off from Centerfest and looking forward to a Dye Day in September!

As I was just sittin’, doing some knittin’
Knitting with yarn that I got at the swap
A sudden cold feeling came over my being and
I heard a strange knocking that made my heart stop

I opened the door, and in came a stranger
An eerie cold look she had in her eye
“I can see by your outfit that you are a knitter,”
the stranger said to me, “and today you must die.

“Oh, once I could slip stitch and purl at the movies
I could knit two together while drinking a beer
But now when I cable I feel stitches dropping
and the rattling sound in my chest makes it clear:

“I’ve no penicillin and look at what’s killin’ me:
a cute streptococcus, adorable flu
sixteen salmonella in soft lovely handspun
and cholera made from self-striping bamboo.”

“Get six jolly spinners to carry my sweaters,
Get six pretty crocheters to sing a sad song.
Put bunches of roving all over my coffin,
For I’m a young knitter and I know I’ve done wrong.

“Go bring me a cup, a cup of hot coffee –
It might still revive me”, the knitter then said.
Before I returned, her soul had departed,
She’d cast off her stitches – the knitter was dead.

We beat the drum slowly and played the fife lowly,
And made such a racket they asked us to leave
But just one moment later I started coughing…
And soon I’m afraid that my family will grieve.

For here in my mailbox… TWO tuberculosis!
A common cold virus and beaded swine flu
Oh, knit me a cure, just one penicillin,
Ah, AHhhh, OH NO! ATCHOOO!

Kate went on an epic battle-spree, knitting (how many???) germ-microbes and killing pretty much everybody.

Photo of germs goes here…

Most tragic death: Monique, whose penicillin was delivered to her moments after the fatal microbes arrived.

Here’s the pattern we were using.

I hear the train a comin’
It’s rolling round the bend
And I ain’t seen a yarn store since I don’t know when,
We knit at the ball park and the Eeeeeeeeno,
But that train keeps a rollin’ on down to Greensboro.
When I was just a baby my mama said something:
“Always be a good [boy/girl], don’t ever play with string.”
But I knitted up a sweater just to kill some time
When I get some yarn and needles, you know I feel just fine.

I bet there’s people knitting and they don’t care if it’s silly
They’re probably knitting sweaters ’cause the train’s a little chilly
My fingers start a-twitchin’, and I know I’ve got to go
That train keeps rolling’
On down to Greensboro

Well if I could get a ticket,
Hell, if that railroad train was mine…
I’d add a coffee-car with couches, and that’s where we’d spend our time
We’d just ride the knitting train, that’s where I want to stay
And I’d let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away…..

(video coming soon)

From the Stringthing Update:

Hello Strings!

Here’s the Things:

We meet at Tanya’s
house this week; directions are
at the email’s end.

Also good to note:
The Beaver Queen Pagent is
Saturday June 5th.

Saturday June 12:
World-Wide Knit in Public Day!
Knit with Rollergirls!

And Saturday June
26th is Stitch-N-Pitch!
Come to a Bull’s Game.

The next knit-along:
June Entrelac!  Which sounds like
A Swiss vacation.

Stringthings lend support
to each other by helping
everyone de-stash:
A support group forms;
we will not buy any yarn.
(unless we need it)

Hey!  We can de-stash
by knitting some entrelac:
good one-skein projects.

Isn’t it great when
different goals all coincide?
Seems like destiny.

Also glad to say:
Stringthing.org is now free
of hacker malware.

(And who in the hell
Would hack a knitting website?
Conspiracy list:

• Homeland Security
• Masons
• some knitting group in Raleigh (!)
• Aliens from Space)

I admit, I was surprised and delighted to see that the Carolina Fiber Festival in Raleigh was such a Big Deal:  there was even a Ferris Wheel!  I had no idea kitting was already hip enough to get a whole ferris wheel…  and a tractor parade…. and pig racing…    wait….

But indeed, we had a blast:  we met some very nice vendors with amazing yarns, we ate some seriously delicious fried food, and our very own Kay organized a big Ravelry meet-up (with door prizes!)   We also learned all about Indigo:

And of course, there had to be Knitting in Odd Places:

hee hee hee

April started with an Easter Sunday Basket-Along, led by our intrepid Teresa.  I am shocked and sorry to say that my own baskets were horrifying lumpy bundles of shame, but delighted to add that everyone who actually followed the directions ended up with a completely adorable little basket of perfection.

We had a welcome-baby party for the newest little member of StringThing:

And at the end of April, StringThing held down the Spinning and Weaving fort at the Makers’ Faire!  A 12-hour marathon of demos and lessons… check out the video!

The amazing SurveyMonkeySurvey provides wise mystical guidance through the realms of community service projects.

survey results

So what are we doing?

1. This very Sunday (3/14) several people will be working on making PURPLE baby hats, and Shannon will be collecting them.  The purple hats will be given to babies as part of a parent education initiative to prevent shaken-baby syndrome.  PURPLE is an acronym to help parents identify and cope with the normal phase of really frustrating crying that newborns go through.

2. For people interested in supporting P/Hop, Often Awesome, or working more directly with cancer patients, we can get you connected.

3. For people who want to sell crafts at MomArt (Genesis Home benefit) or make items for a raffle table (animal shelter benefit), smaller interest groups will form.

4. We’ll try a Habitat Work Day this summer (and/or a fence building day). We will need an organizer to help get this rolling.

5. We’ll do another project for a children’s charity this summer. This might-could be connected to a Haiti benefit, or it might not. I’d love to have a couple of people organize this by choosing a project and coming up with some specific suggestions for ways to kick it off.

The Thursday before Valentine’s Day a bunch of us went and got some culture at the Nasher – free gallery exhibits, documentary films, dance performance, photo booth, plus sushi and a chocolate fountain if you were brave enough to elbow through the undergrads. The White Elephant Gift Swap was some crazy fun – and no-one was arrested, so we can consider it a success. And the Fair Isle Knit-Along got a lot of people started on a whole new colorful kick. It’s not as hard as it looks! And some really lovely results (all the cosy hats and mittens were right in tune with the season, too – darn that groundhog)!  And….  we’ve passed the Sqrl. Continue Reading »

This spring I was kind of thinking of a light-hearted, fun activity to support a cheerful sort of charity. Lots of us have new puppies and kittens; I thought it might be fun to do something for the local pet shelter. And then there was that earthquake. Yeah.

So! Here’s the official plan for spring, with some details still to be worked out – hopefully via an awesome survey on SurveyMonkey, which Katherine and I will make. Continue Reading »

StringThing is having another growth spurt! We’re nearly up to 50 people on this list and regularly seeing 20 people per meeting. (Welcome to all the new faces!) We are a mighty force for good! Here’s a short soap-box about StringThing and service work. Continue Reading »