KITH 2026

     Planning is already well underway for KITH (Knitting in the Heartland). Sunflowers Knitters Association (formerly Guild) is close to announcing the place and the dates (quite likely in late April).

    And the keynote knitters. We always have spectacular knitters to lead the workshops. Plus, there are many opportunities just to sit, and knit, and chat with other knitters. Food and drink in the hospitality room.

    If you don't go home inspired with a half-dozen new projects that you want to make, you haven't been paying attention.

BLACK, DARK YARN

     As knitters get older, they gradually quit knitting with black yarns, or yarns in darker colors. At some point dark yarns require full sunlight.

    But trying to knit up some of my stash has led me to a different conclusion. Dark yarns are best worked on light colored needles, which provide a good contrast. If I didn't have enough of one color of yarn for a complete cap, I've combined two colors. Begin the brim with one color for about three inches, then start the second color and alternate rows until reaching the end of the first color. Continue with the second color continuously to finish the top of the cap. Of course by then I have to resort to the dreaded double points, but I'm gradually becoming more adept.

    The current project is a combination of brown and an almost-black grey. Not making rapid progress. Several rows later I discovered a strange hole. Spent the entire afternoon unknitting, a tedious, unrewarding activity. Brown and subtle almost-black is making a very striking combination and the cap will be a stunning piece of headwear -- if I can ever finish the unknitting back to the problem, and begin making forward progress again.

STOPPED FOR / BY TRAFFIC

     There are two main railroad lines that run through Olathe. Whenever I am running errands, I can be delayed by a lonnnnngggggg train on either line. Not to mention intersections where I might be forced to wait for the light to change.

    It never fails. If I take some knitting with me, or something to read, I will breeze through, encountering no obstacles. If I get in the car empty-handed, I will be stopped by trains of 100-plus cars, or the five-mile-an-hour crossover train, or a traffic light that has been set to never-change. Thumb-twiddling produces nothing.

    And, oh, almost finished a pair of grey wristlets -- have only a half-inch to go on the second one. Put aside for a few days until I can get to the yarn store to buy another skein. Started another pair of wristlets of green worsted dug out of my stash. Worsted. If you heard that word and knew nothing about knitting, you'd think it was the worst thing possible.

YOU NEED A RED HAT?

     I've got plenty.

    One of my writing colleagues in this semester's KCWG (Kansas City Writers Group) said he couldn't do something because he didn't have a red (beanie) hat like one of the other writers. To tell the truth, I didn't hear what it was he couldn't do.

    But our co-director, Mary-Lane, knowing that I am also a knitter, asked me to knit a red hat for my colleague.

    That's all I needed. I took off. Not having the pattern for the beanie I knit several red hats which I now have available to offer. (I have never actually met this colleague, so it's going to take some logistics to get together in person.)

    People who know me well know that knitting helps me get my writing done. (They also know that sometimes I get more knitting than writing finished. I'm still working on my essay of Catching Frogs by Flashlight.)

WAITED SIX YEARS

    We knitters waited six years for KITH (Knitting in the Heartland). KITH 2020 was canceled because of the Coronavirus, KITH 2022 was never planned because the Coronavirus became a Pandemic. KITH 2024 was fabulous. We had Stephanie Pearl McPhee as the keynote knitter, plus several other master knitters teaching workshops. And the vendor's market -- it was marvelous. Local and not so local yarn and yarn accessory producers provided dazzling yarns and products. You weren't there, but now you are curious? Well, KITH 2026 is only two years away. It'll be worth the wait.

BASIC STOCKINETTE

    Now that we are past the season of Christmas knitting, I'm back to a personal project: a cardigan sweater with blue and yellow stash. It's being done in basic stockinette stitch, which is one side in knit, and the other side in purl. Purling is a bit more difficult for me, I think for most people, so I am slower with the purl rows than the knit rows. Knit or purl, it is 165 stitches a row. Oddly enough, I have just discovered that errors are more likely to reveal themselves in purl rows. 

NEXT GENERATION OF KNITTERS

    I taught a little girl to knit. Finally. For years I've been carrying around in my knit bag a bit of spare yarn and a pair of knitting needles made of chopsticks. The tips of the chopsticks need to be carefully sharpened in a pencil sharpener -- well, I suppose the tips could be shaped by a knife if a pencil sharpener isn't available. Buff off any rough spots with a nail file. Wooden knitting needles work best for beginners because the friction from the wood keeps the yarn from sliding. My student did very well, finished an entire row. I let her take the project with her, came home and converted another pair of chopsticks to knitting needles. I'm ready, should another eager student wander along.