Knit it Together by Suzyn Jackson

Jacket Design Greg Nettles

Moving to a new town or city is a daunting and a life unraveling experience but today there is help to sew it all together through social networking.  Meetup® is one of the easiest sites to use – just enter your zip code and area of interest such as knitting and up pops a list. Suzyn Jackson’s new book, Knit it Together: Patterns and Inspiration for Knitting Circles, is the how-to guide for attending and creating a knitting group.

“Today more than ever, people are searching for connection, and knitting circles are a great way to find that.  They tend to be welcoming and inclusive groups,” says Jackson.

Knitting Catches on in U.S.

According to the Craft Yarn Council of America, 53 million or 36% of American women know how to knit.  This constitutes a 51% increase during the past decade.

Knitting groups vary throughout the country; some held in knitting shops others in cafes.  Some are uniquely online such as Ravelry.com, a by invitation only site that allows members (there’s no fee to participate) to exchange ideas, patterns, yarn and find groups that meet in person.  If you are granted membership enter the yarn you have on hand – if you dare – into the “Stash” section, which matches yarn to suggested patterns.  This may also stop you from buying yarn for a while as you realize how much you have hiding in your closet.  

NavyForMoms is a social networking site where a virtual knitting group has sprung up.  Members knit Afghans and blankets for the brave men and women who serve our country.

Not all groups are women-only.  Knit Wits meets at a bookstore in Wilmington, NC and one of its members is 29-year old Aaron Como, aka The Chain Mail Guy.  “Knitting with chainmaille has been a hobby since high school when I made some to use as additional protection when I play paintball.”  Como joined Knit Wits six months ago with his wife.  Today he is knitting smaller items that many consider jewelry.

At Knitch in the Virginia-Highlands area of Atlanta has a men’s only night along with several co-ed groups that meet regularly.  The shop also invites knitters to stop in any time and sit at one of its tables with other drop-in knitters.  Christopher Hampson, a London-based choreographer who guests with the Atlanta Ballet took up knitting to pass the time he spends on airplanes and waiting in airports.  When in Atlanta he can be found between rehearsals at Knitch working on something lush, cashmere and black.

If knitting an individual item has lost its appeal, the projects in Jackson’s book are, “designed to take that feeling of community to the next level by providing projects that a group can work on together.”  

Ashtanga poses, a glass of wine and casting on

Knitting is relaxing unless the pattern is intricate with many yarns and stitch changes.  In Keene, New Hampshire, Jennie Gomarlo takes relaxation seriously hosting yoga and knitting evenings in her barn, originally built in the 1800s and recently restored.  A group in Manzanita, Oregon meets in a wine shop though sipping a glorious cabernet could lead one to “frogging” – in knitters parlance this indicates unraveling an entire project. A group in Michigan meets at New Holland Brewing.  Are they quaffing High Gravity Beer while purling – this could lead to innovative sweaters – knit one, sip two.

Knit it Together provides history and context, group etiquette, simple patterns and knitting for charity ideas.   Jackson tackles the difficulties behind seams and blocking – secretly most knitters surveyed by this reviewer avoid blocking.  Weaving Jackson’s yarn tales together are a list of abbreviations – who doesn’t need help when the instructions include things such as “SSK” and “S2KP2.”  Fun to read with rich, colorful images and homespun essays by other knitters, Knit it Together is warm, well written and best read with a glass of wine and a knitting project at hand.

Voyageur Press – June 2009
ISBN 978-0-7603-3073-9 

Knitting and yoga in Keene, New Hampshire