The Kindness of Knitters

I am constantly amazed by the kindness of knitters, both on a large and small scale. It is pretty well known that the Yarn Harlot keeps a tally of all the money that knitters donate to Doctors Without Borders. It was pretty amazing to watch the number climb dramatically after the Haiti earthquake. Plus, a TON of pattern designers have been contributing parts of their profits from the sales of their patterns on Ravelry... it was great to see the sheer number of patterns that were tagged with "help for Haiti".  Recently, a fiber artist and phat fiber contributor, lost her husband. She has a working farm, and I can not begin to imagine the stress that she is under. It has been amazing to watch the fiber community band together for her as well.  There have been fundraising auctions set up here, and her shop is still open here. Members of the phat fiber community are also banding together to knit or crochet squares for a blanket for her. I am always proud to say that I am a Knitter, and actions like this just make me even more proud.

Recently, I personally encountered the kindness of another knitter.  On Saturday I taught a class on needle felting.  It was a simple class, a few hours were spent practicing and stabbing lots of fiber.  It was VERY fun! The ladies were such a fun group, and I had brought all of my phat fiber samples for them to play with, which they LOVED. A few ladies tried to offer me money for my samples, and I told them no... they were getting use out of them and getting them out of my over stuffed craft room.  I went back to clean up after everyone had left to find some money... very nice gesture! Then the next day, one of the ladies came back into the shop for another knitting class. She had brought in some more things she had made the night before (which were beautiful) and a card for me. On my way home, I read the card, which was a wonderful little note about how inspirational and fun the class was... talk about an ego boost! AND it has a $10 gift card to the coffee shop next to the shop where I teach! How sweet! I will definitely be putting that to good use (for juice and food... not much of a coffee drinker, but some mornings I need a bagel, and now I can go grab one!). I was just floored.  How sweet.

So, if you are a Knitter, be proud. We are a good bunch.