Black Sheep in wool clothing

I'll be holding down the blogosphere by myself this weekend.  Everyone else (isn't that how it feels?) will be exercising the plastic down in Maryland.  Merryland?  Oh yes.
I don't need more yarn. I still can't walk.  Then what's the deal? It takes about three microseconds to understand that this is about relationships.

Stop and think about how much of knitting IS about relationships.

1. Knitting is a skill learned in the old guild method.  The skills are learned best when someone shows you how.  In medicine, we call it "Watch one, do one, teach one."
(It's never that simple, but you get the idea.)

2. I knit mostly for other people.  A knitted gift implies time, and care, and thought.  This is another way of recognizing, expressing, and solidfying relationships.

3. Many knitters gather together to knit.  The best yarn shops have couches, chairs, and tables so that we can knit in quiet company.   

4.  Knit blogging IS relationships.  I value my blog connections to other knitters.  I really enjoy touching your knitterly soul with tendrils of blog-prose.  Is there a single blogger who NEVER thinks about her readers? 

5.  I find that yarn purchased from small farms, and handspinners is more satisfying than purchases from retail producers.  We talk about supporting the little guy, as if the economics are critical.  I think we are really supporting the continuity of relationships in our lives.  Buying yarn from our LYS is a part of this.  I know I can find just about anything cheaper over the Internet.  I'd rather nurture the relationship with my LYS, because I find that relationship has come to mean something to me.

There isn't much hard data out there on this.  It's really difficult to study - the endpoints that one would measure are too squishy.  No data leaped to prominence in PubMed (which also includes the psychology of interpersonal relationship literature).  These links (in order of interest), discuss the on-line relationship phenomena: 

a.  The Basic Psychological Features of Cyberspace
b.  Hypotheses about Online Text Relationships
c.  The Online Disinhibition Effect
d.  The Final Showdown Between In-Person and Cyberspace Relationships

Don't read them all at once.  Your eyes will cross.

The weather has been magnificent. Temps have been in the 60s, which encourages the green things to come out of hiding, and protects their pretty skirts from wrinkling in the heat.  This is a picture of the spring debut of my green, lacy Japanese maple:

She always reminds me of Melanie, from Gone With the Wind.

I was very excited yesterday.  In the mail, I found the pattern for the Elizabeth bag, which I had ordered from our RingMom.  Not only do I love the bag, I really liked the networking involved in supporting Black Sheep Bags. I know just the color I'm going to use, and will flash it when it has succeeded in leaping into my hot little hands.

Comments

[julia fc]

Ah, great links (I can only read two now, the other I'll save) Thanks so much.
I totally agree about the #5 local factor. I have been thinking about sheep as domesticated creatures in prep for a vegan knitting post, and while I like to think of shearing festivals and the like as a great pagan rite and connection to the animals and the seasons, I know that most of the yarn I buy comes from a great nether world of industrial-level animal farming. The fiber I feel good about comes from shepherds I know personally.

[Margene]

When I started blogging I had no idea that the connections I made with other bloggers and knitters would be so much like 'real' friendships.
I've decided to be 'bitter' about not being with all those other knitters who are going to MSWF...we'll be alone together.
Julia's right about yarn. I love our local shops but buying yarn from the person who spun and dyed it is a very special connection.

[claudia]

Will you be walk-enabled by Cummington a/k/a Mass. Sheep & Wool? I'll bet you would really like that fair. Small, local....

[Norma]

I am partial to local wool, too. I realized early on that one of the main reasons I got involved in knitting was because of an almost primal, back-to-basics, tactile need. I love seeing the actual sheep from which my wool came. And you are spot on about this weekend being all about the relationships. I, too, have absolutely no need for any more fiber -- it's the people I want to see.

[Deb]

I'll be around this weekend, too. I don't think it's actually EVERYone going to MDSW this weekend, but it sure seems like it!

[Wendy]

You won't be all by yourself. You'll have company in FL, as well.

I agree that knitting, the knitting blogiverse and these festivals are all about relationships. Through blogs, I feel like I "know" so many more people than I actually do. I have something in common with people all over the country... all over the world, even. More than I do in my own back yard, for sure.

We speak a certain language, that is universal to us. We share things through our blogs that others, including family and non-knitting friends, will respond to with a blank look, while we knitters will smile or laugh, and nod knowingly. We have all had similar experiences, frustrations and victories with our knitting, and can revel in the successes and frustrations of others. Oops, I am rambling.

Thanks for the great post. It obviously struck a chord with me.

W. :)

[Andrea]

Ah, I just think those of us not going aren't talking about it. ;)

[ck]

Interesting post. I've often thought about why people blog, what we choose to blog about, the community and yet semi-anonymity of it. I am sure this phenomena is fueling at least one dissertation somewhere out there.