Convergence

I am knitting furiously.  I am casting on indiscriminantly.  I am running around the house insanely, collecting all the myriad things that need to come to Rhinebeck with me.

The first Whisper Rib Shepherd Lace sock is done.  The second one is  waiting...waiting...waiting...for that exact harmonic moment when I will focus on and finish the picot hem.

While she sits in temporary and minor time-out, I have begun Blogland's ubiquitous Feather&Fan sock in Lisa Souza's yarn SOCK!.  The colorway is Pacific.  By Etherknitter standards, I'm blasting through this one.  It'll be car knitting on the way to the Convergence known as Rhinebeck.

F&F isn't a total mindless knit.  One of every four rows, I have to pay attention.  So I started Ye Olde Basic Stockinette Stitch sock for the sole purpose of hotel lobby and blogger-room knitting.  The specialness of this sock is not in the pattern or the purpose, but in the yarn.  It is Nancy Finn's mohair/merino worsted sock yarn, Lagoon colorway.  Each color change sings.  As the transitions blow past my needles, I vow to ask her to dye yarn just like THIS ONE for a sweater.  Thirty seconds later, my fickle heart has fallen in love with a different shade of blue.  Thirty seconds later, yeah, this time it's green.  Knitting was specifically tailored for the cheap thrills of visual people, and for this I am thankful beyond measure.

My colchicum is in full bloom.  Known as autumn crocus, it is the plant that initially supplied colchicine, which is an anti-inflammatory useful in the treatment of gout.   Leaves appear in the spring, then die back by early summer.  The blooms shoot up in the fall, displaying their sleek leafless nudity until frost and rain bring them down.   

It's a wonderful time for a Sheep and Wool harvest festival.  Winter is coming.  Shorter days, longer nights, hoarded hours of daylight warn us of the winter.  Our New England temperatures have been perfect - crisp warmth, cool nights, all causing yarn to spring from the stash onto my needles.  I can't wait to spend time with my knitblog buds. 

Like most of what I reflect on, my pleasure in your company is also hard-wired.  New data is emerging to suggest that in times of stress, women "tend and befriend" rather than get ready for "fight or flight".  The article below discusses that which suddenly becomes clear:  why we knit in groups, why we rely on each other for support, solace, and why your presence heals me.

The authors say it better than I could:

"A landmark UCLA study suggests friendships between women are special. They shape who we are and who we are yet to be. They soothe our tumultuous inner world, fill the emotional gaps in our marriage, and help us remember who we really  are. By the way, they may do even more. Scientists now suspect that hanging out with our friends can actually counteract the kind of stomach-quivering stress most of us experience on a daily basis............(follow the link for the middle part of the discussion)......Yet if friends counter the stress that seems  to swallow up so much of our life these days, if they keep us healthy and even add years to our life, why is it so hard to find time to be with them? ...... We should NOT put our female friends on the back burners. Every time we get overly busy with work and family, the first thing we do is let go of friendships  with other women, explains Dr. Josselson. We push them right to the back         burner. That's really a mistake because women are such a source of strength to each other. We nurture one another. And we need to have unpressured space in which we can do the special kind of talk that women do when they're with other women. It's a very healing experience."

I'll raise a glass to that, and to us.  See you there!

Comments

[Cassie]

And I raise my glass (or will soon) in a toast to that!

(Ask me, I'll show you the trick for reading the F&F pattern. Piece-a cake.)

[--Deb]

I'll drink to that, too!

[Vicki]

Hard-wired is exactly right. I don't quite have the words -- not quite "it's nice to know that there's science to back up what's been in my heart" and not quite validation, either, but something along those lines. It's something that I've always done -- with sisters, with friends -- something that's always been important.

*clink*

[LaurieM]

I am happier and saner than I have ever been in my life. Is it any wonder that I also have more women in my life than every before?

Three cheers for the sisterhood!

[Cheryl]

See you soon, can't wait!

[Lee Ann]

If there was ever a time my husband needs your 24-hour, panic-attack calming skills, it's this weekend, darlin', cause he's coming with me and he's terrified that he'll be incoherent and way too French. Far scarier than the hospital. :-)

We are SO looking forward to meeting you. My kid is waiting to meet THE Laurie. I will try not to cry. Much.

I'm working on something more creative than Mouton Cadet and less expensive than Chateau Mouton-Rothschild.

[regina]

Sigh. I am so grateful for my women friends, but it's true that there simply isn't enough time: not for our friends, our kids, or ourselves. It's a dilemma, but you're right that we should all try hard to make more time for one another. I love the women in my life (and i'm very happy that i'll get to see some of my very favorite ones this weekend)! I look forward to meeting you. Thanks for the inspiring words.

[Rachel H]

Yes.

[Manise]

Tears well up in my eyes as I read your post and I count my so very many blessings at having found the knitblog community in the Spring/Summer of '05 and the friendships that have resulted. I am so lucky! Can't wait to see you and the rest of the bloggy friends.

I, too, am running around like a headless chicken trying to figure out what to bring knit-wise. Socks are a good choice, or Stephanie's scarf.

[Carole]

Stockinette socks are essential for the upcoming weekend. 2 more sleeps!

[Cordelia]

Yay! for Rhinebeck & bloggers & fun people.
And Yay! for autumn crocuses. Another childhood favorite of mine.

[Kathy]

Great post! Love the socks. Need to pack.

[Marcia]

Just in case, I bought some wine today. Semi-creative but not astoundingly so. Now, if I can only figure a way to keep it cold for ten hours.....that will be astounding.

[Caroline M]

I too have been on a feather and fan kick, I'm coming out of it now as I'm on the last sock of my third pair. I've been making mine from three balls of scraps, more tedious than using a single ball but I get to feel virtuous all the way to the toe. Have a great weekend, a party with wool, what could be better?

[maryse]

ha! see? you're freaking out too! jesus, i just remembered, i have to buy wine. and lee ann's already bringing the mouton whatever.

[Lucia]

Let's hear it for unpressured space! (While we're at it, let's not forget to leave space for acquired fiber.)

(Lee Ann, cherie, I'm too lazy to go find it so just imagine there's an accent there, 'k? -- I cannot wait to meet you and your husband, and I would write it in French, only I'm petrified of getting it wrong, I'm that rusty.)

[Cindy D]

Love the Whisper Rib Shepherd Lace sock and the Feather and fan!

Yes...friends are special,but fiber friends rock the most!!!

[Martha]

Colchicum is on my planting list for next spring. They're so lovely. Maybe Montauk daisies, too, for a little fall color.

The thing I look forward to most about these get-togethers is getting to see girlfriends. On a day-to-day basis, the only time I see other women is when I go to the bank or library. That might be the worst part about my job, the complete male-centric-ness of it. Men are great, don't get me wrong, but you need to have girlfriends, too.

[Dorothy B]

Hope you have a great time at Rhinebeck.

I miss my girlfriends. All but one has moved away. Thank goodness for blogging.

[lisa Co. Springs]

Here! Here! (wishing I was there, there :) )

[Beth S.]

I could swear those two socks are the exact same yarn... are they? (Extra big skein, maybe?)

All my girlfriends seem to be virtual these days, and you're right, that's not really healthy.

[Ruth]

I'll drink to that. Looking forward to seeing you this weekend.

[Julia]

Mmm. Rhinebeck. I can not wait. I leave in 14 hours. See you there!

[Theresa]

And this is why it's not so bad when my boyfriend is on call. Girls' night!

[bev]

Wish I could see you all in Rhinebeck. But, alas, I am on the other side of the continent.
Again, Laurie, your blog always has something; something to laugh about, something to cry about, something to learn about. Love it, love it, love it!

[LauraJ]

Buy Stuff for me in Rhinebeck! Stay up late a nd soak in one another's company. I'm grateful for my friends, all of them, but I really do think women's brains work differently (from my point of view, better) than men's. Why is there heterosexuality? I mean... oh, babies are all right, I guess.

Colchicine is also what you add to regular diploid daylilies to get tetraploids. Some of which are all right, if you like ruffles.

[Kim]

It was great to see you this weekend and drink some wine together :-)!

[Chris]

Hope you had a wonderful time at Rhinebeck! Thanks for sharing that wisdom, too.

[minnie]

that's what i love about sit & knit. we talk about cleavage, and menopause, and all kinds of other odd bits that only women would talk about. the funny part? there is a guy who comes occasionally, and we don't stop for his benefit, and he doesn't seem to be uncomfortable, lol.

btw, you have SKINNY feet! me and my E's are jealous!

[melanie]

Man, I'm so bummed I didn't really get a chance to talk to you this weekend, and even more bummed that I missed out on the world's greatest hug. Next time. Promise?

[margene]

That's something we as women know and why there are so many of us in blogland. Being at Rhinebeck was more like a reunion with long time freinds than it was a first time meet up. You made it very, very special. Love you and miss you!!