the generosity of knitters

I recently read Things I Learned from Knitting (Whether I wanted to or Not) by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (AKA the YarnHarlot). My supervisor got it for me as a parting gift when I completed my internship which made total sense since she begins the book by comparing knitting to Cognitive Behavioral therapy, and since I would knit during many a meeting in which we were discussing the clients we would do CBT therapy with. The book was a good, fast, and light hearted read- perfect for easing my way back into the shock of being able to do actual leisure reading after completing my masters.

Anyway, the book has a tidbit in it about the generosity of knitters and I've been thinking more about that and examples of it in my life (of which there are many). From sharing skills to sharing supplies (ahem, thanks for those needles meg!)- ask and you shall receive in the knitting world. And sometimes, you don't even have to ask, as is evidenced by the following examples...

A dear friend of mine recently traveled to Turkey and shared my humble blog with his hostess who was an incredibly crafty knitter and crocheter herself. She sent him back home with some beautiful hand knit slippers to pass on to me, just because.
Unfortunately, they do not stretch enough to accommodate the skis I like to call "my feet." Regardless, I was very touched by the gesture and the thought that there was this woman across an ocean who I could relate to in this way. I'll be going to Costa Rica and Honduras this summer, and I plan to take them with me and pass them on to someone who can fit into them, and hopefully who can appreciate how far this gift has traveled.

Two months ago, I also received this in the mail...
An umbrella swift! My very own umbrella swift! Now I know there are some fancy pants knitters out there who might gawk at the very idea that I didn't already own one of the contraptions- but I am a humble-recent-graduate-student of limited means. It was just a purchase that I couldn't justify (although I was considering trying to justify spending some of my stimulus check on one anyway). I've wanted one for a very long time, and was kind of kicking myself for not investing in one this past October at Rhinebeck. So you can imagine how excited I was to receive one in the mail by complete surprise! It turns out my fantastic roommate knew how badly I wanted one and mentioned it casually to his extremely generous knitterly & crafty mom, who mailed me one that she just happened to have laying around the house. She's also sent me knitting shows from the DIY channel and some awesome Ravelry swag. Rasca is less than impressed by the umbrella swift. She knows not of these human toys nor of the generosity of knitters. She just wants to eat the yarn.