Yarn party

A few weeks ago,  Shirin showed me a Substation flyer calling for knitting volunteers.  My first reaction was to be completely gobsmacked.  For serious?  Since when does anyone in Singapore ever do anything like this?

Once I investigated the cause though, I was thoroughly excited and signed up for two sessions, the first of which was today.  

Basically, a group of knitters is planning to "yarn bomb" the Substation pillars with an art installation come September and since they need a grand 50 kilos of worsted to do it, they decided to call for reinforcements.

I wondered if it was going to be silent and dreary with nothing but the sound of staid clicking, but figured that there was only one way to find out.

This afternoon, I packed a couple of needles in my tote and set off for the Substation at 2pm.  I was briefly confounded by a group of rockers gathering in the foyer and stood next to them, shuffling from foot to foot and wondering how they had picked up knitting until I realised that the yarn party room was on the second floor.  (The last couple of times I set foot in the Substation, it was for metal gigs, so I suppose I assumed everyone there naturally looked that funky.)

I found my way upstairs and was set to work immediately, at a table with five other delightful ladies of varying ages (and yes, they were just as funky as the scene kids).

We were basically told to go crazy and do whatever we wanted in any colour, any pattern, any shape and any size, which was freeing.  In short, it was so.  Much.  Fun.

The radio was blasting, and there were cookies and drinks.  

Everywhere I turned, I saw someone doing something new from a woman who cast on using a chain stitch, to one lady who made beautiful purple and blue loops of yarn using her wrists as needles, to a young man who made a lacy half-fichu type thing that put us all to shame.

It was like being in a village and doing crafts together and the very experienced older ladies were so kind and patient with the beginners like myself.  (My mother pointed out that to do any kind of sewing or fabric-making, you have to be fairly stoic and calm.)

The lady on my right taught me two easy new patterns that I'm dying to try, and the woman on my left, who was wearing a beautifully crocheted hairclip and kept proclaiming that she'd been knitting since "Nineteen seventy two!", showed us how to do a basic cable.

We kept laughing and joking about where to buy yarn and all the various things we'd made and everyone very shyly and graciously passed round photos of their work.  Even though I was only doing very simple knitting and purling, I felt completely at ease.  Everyone showed everyone how to do various things that they knew and even the simplest tricks were received without any exasperation or condescension. 

At about four, a reporter from the local news channel came by to do a piece for television and we were greatly amused to see the cameramen waving at bottles of needles and shouting, "Take the stick!  Take the stick!"

My table ended up exchanging numbers and some of us will be coming back for the next Saturday session.  Holy cow, it sounds nerdy, but I can't wait.

In the meantime, here's the big square I finished for the art piece today - a purple and yellow pattern with strips of stockinette, garter stitch and yarnovers.