Acrylics Anonymous and Michele of Saskatchewan

The ring that I tried to join last night is called Acrylics Anonymous. It made me laugh to see it on this other fantastic knitting blog (http://www.beknitted.blogspot.com/). I like reading this woman's blog. Her name is Michele, and I see her on a lot of other blogs -- references to her, posts by her, etc. It seems like Michele is just one of those people who delights in doing nice things for others. There need to be more people in this world out there like her. I only hope that she gets back all that she gives, in triplicate! I have a friend who always says, "You get paid for everything you do. You might not get paid in money, and you might not get paid now, but you get paid for everything you do." I hope that Michele gets paid. Maybe in yarn :)

And speaking of...

I tried to join this Acrylics Anonymous because, hey, lets face it. If it weren't for acrylic yarn, I couldn't afford to knit at all. I have already decided that I. AM. NOT. BUYING. ANY. MORE. YARN. At least not until I finish up everything that I have in my stash. Which, though not as much as some of the collections I see from bloggers, is still considerable. I always say that, though, and then I go out and buy more. I think it will help that as of Sunday night, I will no longer have a car. *sigh* Aah, here comes the life of a poor student. This will be the first time since about May of '96 that I will have been without a car. And I'm not sure how I feel about it. But I do hope that it will cut down on my yarn expeditions! From now on, if someone wants me to knit or crochet them something, they'll have to buy the yarn for me and I'll make whatever they want. Or, you know, within reason...

And as for it being acrylic -- hey, if someone else is buying, I'll use the "good stuff!" I was taught to knit and crochet by a woman who used nothing but Red Heart Super Savers. With a coupon. Her sister would collect the coupons from the neighbors (anyone who didn't knit themselves) in their complex in Florida, and they would make a trip out of it. Drive to Michael's, buy one skein each, put them in the car, go back, stand on a different line, buy one skein each, put them in the car, go back, stand on yet a different line, buy one skein each, put them in the car, take a break for lunch, go back, buy one skein each... By the end of the day, they probably had about a dozen skeins of yarn, for 40% off instead of the regular $2.17 that Michael's charged for Red Heart Super Savers. She very nearly had a heart attack when I made my parents an afghan from the Lion Brand Chenille. I think it was about $6 a skein. We are talking, however, about a woman who was the daughter of immigrants. Her mother worked full time in a factory, and then was a seamstress on the side to make more money. She was a depression-era teenager, and it never left her. My grandmother once told me that she would make a sweater, and if it got stained, or got a hole, she would rip the whole thing, cut out the offending part of the yarn, and make something else. If she were alive to see my stash, she would probably disown me.

Though I've never said it to anyone before, I know that one of the reasons that I love to knit and crochet is not just for the process, not just for the feel of creating, and not just for the finished product, but that each time I pick up yarn, needles or a hook, I think of my grandmother.