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World-Wide Knit in Public Day. Whew!

Saturday was World-Wide Knit in Public (WWKIP) Day. What a day it was in the Greater Lansing (Michigan) Area, especially for those who knit! (Warning: long post with lots of photos, I could not help myself.)

Unfortunately, that headache I had the day before? It stuck around. It was better than Friday but it hindered my fun more than I wanted.

Here’s an early photo of Dewitt Farm Market/Lavender & Peonies KIPping. (For the record, today I’m not naming names though I know at least half of those in most of the photographs… I work hard at names but I have so many people in my life!)

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Later we had moved to the shade on the other side of the tent. We lost a few folks, gained a few more. Here’s a later photo:

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Ironically, my hubby Brian was playing music inside one of the businesses on the same block where we knit. He is in the band “Scarlet Runner String Band” and they were at Sweetielicious Pie Pantry (otherwise known as Sweetie Pie by locals). Brian is playing banjo here.

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When I went in to take this photo, the wife of the bass player was there. She’s a big knitter, mostly preemie hats for Sparrow Hospital. I told her we were KIPping so she grabbed her knitting and joined us!

One woman came from Buffalo, New York (blue shirt at right). She was in town for a wedding and Rob at Threadbear told her that the KIPping was starting in Dewitt at 9am so there she was! The woman at left came to the farm market not knowing it as WWKIP day. She ran home to get her knitting and came back to join us. Notice she’s doing a magnificent two-colored Christmas stocking for herself. It was really beautiful.

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At 11am I went to the next stop on the KIPping tour. I went to Patriarche park in East Lansing, where Rae’s Yarn Boutique and Woven Art/Nancy McRay joined forces. It was not just a gathering, it was an event.

First park photo: the end result of over 20 minutes of a crochet-chain contest. Two teams of three crocheters knit 25 stitches before passing to the next person, and the relay required finishing an entire ball of wool tape yarn first. The second prize was awarded to the longest chain. There were three teams of three.

I held someone else’s camera during the race, for a video. It will take a bit of editing to be interesting to anyone who was not in the race, I’m afraid…

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Then we had the “Extreme Knitting” race. Two teams, and two sets of size 75, 48-inch-long wooden needles. Very heavy needles, but gorgeous. And fun. And funny!

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Here is team 1. One woman on each needle and one woman controlling the yarn. It was fascinating how this became a whole-body athletic event because of the heft of these needles. The feet were moving, knees bent.

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Team 2, cranking out garter fabric as a team. The yarn was actually the crochet chain made from wool tape, from the last contest. It was almost too thin for the task.

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Here is the final product (the contest was to cast on and then finish 5 rows fastest, I think they had a dozen stitches on the needle.
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The other team. Not five rows.

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En garde! This was sort of inevitable, don’t you think? Long pointy things will become play swords every time.

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And the star of the show? He loved the extreme needles, too.

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After all that excitement and all sorts of good food, folks settled in to knit and chat. It’s a beautiful park.

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This was after some folks already went home. It was quite a crowd, and a lovely group at that.

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By the time I left the park my headache was in full force again. However, I could not miss the goings-on at Threadbear. I ran over there and some classes were just getting out, there were a zillion people there and the chatter sounded like a great party. You know the sound… a whole bunch of people enjoying the company of the others in the room. I love that sound!

Maggie Jackson of Maggie’s Ireland was there teaching and we met briefly. I chatted with a lot of friends who were finishing up from their classes. I saw some folks I know because they have loyally taken several classes from me.

I saw a bunch of folks who I’d seen at Patriarche Park and/or DeWitt farm market. I ate strawberries and cherries from the farm market which had made their way to the barbecue at Threadbear. (They were cooking in the parking lot, those resourceful dudes!)

I bought a little Drops Alpaca (light sportweight) from them for a friend. I had already purchased some turquoise for myself the day before. I had planned that purchase days before, and then when I got there the yarn had been marked down from $8 a ball to $3 a ball… so I bought even more than I expected and it cost less than my initial plan. Happy me.

So then I showed a bunch of others the wonderful alpaca and they bought some, too. We danced happy alpaca dances, I tell you.

And somehow the headache was so bad that I totally forgot to take photographs. Drat. It would have been a bit difficult anyway, because people were scattered all over the store… they had planned it for the parking lot but with all that sun and no shade trees I’m guessing they just stayed in for comfort. I just looked on Google for photos of the Theadbear event and so far I can not find any posted.

I ran home, reclined on the couch for maybe 5 minutes, changed clothes and went to Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine to sing.

Altu told me that a knitting friend had come by for the first time to try her food. I think it was Jan who I talked to at Patriarche park. That was a lovely surprise. I love it when different parts of my life touch one another. When knitting and friendship and music all meet in one place, my life feels very right indeed.

I even knitted in public at Altu’s restaurant after our performance. Brian’s aunt, uncle and two cousins came to hear us (none of them live in Lansing but they meet here for our music) and my Mom and two of her friends also came. It was a party, though I guess I was the only one knitting at Altu’s this time. Not always, but this time.

What a day!

2 Responses to “World-Wide Knit in Public Day. Whew!”

  1. Nancy McRay Says:

    Lynn, Thanks for the greta pictures documenting all the fun!

  2. Deborah Robson Says:

    Sounds like a great time, Lynn. I knitted in public on Saturday because I was in public. Good thing I didn’t stay home, or I wouldn’t have. . . . But I knit in public almost every time I’m out . . . somewhere, somehow. I got most of Saturday’s public knitting done while I was watching the judging of the colored angora goats at the Estes Park Wool Market. Sunday’s was at the place I had breakfast, and at the cashmere goat judging. . . . Nice combination of personal and peripheral activities. But no crocheted chain or huge needles.