This summer’s vacation ramblings provided some delightful yarn-scouting. Who knew Center Harbor, NH was home to an outstanding shop called Patternworks? Housed in a modest little shopping plaza not far from Lake Winnipesauke, the shop was filled with a wide array of choice yarns as well as a great selection of the faithful workhorses. Beautifully displayed with plenty of knitted-up items showing the final look, the yarns were collected in different rooms devoted to cottons, bulkies, all the various wools and other fibers, with a corner of lace weights. A well stocked alcove catered to the sock nuts. But best of all was the knitter who quickly jotted a simple lace pattern on the back of the bag when she rang up my treasure—just ‘cause she thought it would knit up nicely in that yarn.

Concord, NH is home to another fabulous shop called The Elegant Ewe. Chock o’block full and staffed by a clever mother-daughter team the day we were there, it boasts a terrific selection of lovely mohair, soy-based yarns, and stupendous shawl kits as well as the usual high quality beauties. A particular find was a pattern for a sort of poke-through scarf like the ones my mother made for each of us as children. I’m going to make it up in a gorgeous hand-dyed as soon as I finish this wretched baby blanket! That’s the blanket, of course, not the baby. I’ve just reached that point of wanting not to see apple green merino for a long time!

An unexpected find in Gloucester, MA was the Coveted Yarn, new shop owned by a young man who is new to knitting. What he lacks in knitterly acumen he makes up for in care and enthusiasm for stocking a fabulous range of gorgeous yarns from Chile to Italy to Green Mountain Spinnery. The rainy day we were there two women were hiding out, chatting up a storm. One was making a silent (!) retreat at nearby Eastern Point and other was waiting for her husband to comes to his senses and give up on sailing that day. The things you hear in yarn stores!

Now, the only little problem is where to stow the newly acquired summer stash!

Author Lorna Miser has produced a lovely book, Faith, Hope, Love, Knitting consisting of stories of the people who have touched her life because she had knitting in her hands. Each story is a self-contained meditation on someone who has nourished her faith, hope, and love. Lorna believes each person has crossed her path for a reason and as she reflects on the meaning of each encounter, a knitting project is inevitably involved. Accompanying each story is a pattern for something she was either knitting at the time, or inspired to knit later. The twenty projects are beautifully photographed and the aesthetics of the book are worthy of the author who has contributed so much beauty through her exquisite hand-painted yarns. The stories of her encounters will inspire you and get you to thinking about people who have touched your life while you knit. Worth breaking the usual boundaries between church and yarn, just this once!

My sister’s green cotton sleeveless sweater—gorgeous spring yarn—last spring! It had been sitting since Thanksgiving when my mother sewed up the side seams. All it needed was for me to pick up and knit the neck and armhole bands. I had never done that before so I was stalling. One night, bam! Picked up those stitches, purled a row and cast that puppy off. Next day blocked it. Done! Finished! The baby surprise jacket that same mother had closed the shoulder and sewn buttons on was nearly done. It needed a little collar. Picked up those stitches, blasted through a few rows of garter, cast off. Bam! Done! Finished. (Need a baby for it but that’s not something I can finish.)

The first lace effort, a scarf in the gorgeous hand-painted mohair and silk from Blue Hill—most expensive yarn I’ve ever bought? It had about four inches to go. Bam! A few episodes of Glenn Close and the Cheers bartender being evil-doers on “On Demand” TV and it was done. Finished. Don’t know who it’s for but it’s done! Soft, variegated, grey, silky soy on its way to becoming a honeycomb scarf? Its journey has ended! And of course, the sweater. Gorgeous blue-violet merino. Easy stitch that was quite interesting for the first 1000 or so rows. Almost done but needed several more inches on the sleeves, which were being knit together on one needle. A snowstorm, a school cancellation, and bam! Cast off those sleeves. Collar on the way. Nearly done. Will it fit? We’ll see. It’ll be done! It’ll fit somebody.

Why? What has prompted this fit of finishing? Could it be that are a few other things that I would like to be done with and cannot be? Things that are not yet finished and will go on for awhile—much longer that I had asked for or imagined? They are moving at their own speed and I cannot rush them or even speed them up very much. They are going to take the time they take. If only I could cast them off. So I suppose it is quite satisfying to finish what I can, be done with some things I could control and have beautiful, useful woolies to show for it. A consolation. A sign. Maybe it only feels like forever and if I just keep at it, eventually, I can cast off and move on.

– Pearl Tinker

And there is the knitting. My grandmother, a staunch Canadian church lady, was a lifelong volunteer at the Mission to Seafarers, a ministry of the Anglican Church. When I was in an early hat and scarf phase, I found that the Mission accepts donations of warm woolies for merchant seafarers all over the world. Plain dark colors only! This is not the place to use up your leftover hot pink mohair.

In western Mass we find the first chapter of Knitting Liberally, a community based on the social networking, community development model of Living Liberally. These communities are predicated on the assumption that political identity should be part of our regular lives. The Knitting Liberally group’s last giving project donated knit toys for the children served by the New England Learning Center for Women in Transition (NELCWIT), who have survived domestic violence or sexual abuse.

Other well known knitting ways of giving are Afghans for Afghans, which also does scarves, sweaters and hats, the Dulaan project, which knits warm clothing for children in Mongolia, and the Red Scarf project, which cares about foster kids heading to college. And for those of you who are stash-rich, consider donating some yarn for Lent—as in “letting go.” Drop some off at Rosie’s Place and throw in some needles. Call your LYS and find out where they suggest. And please note, the rector advises that this does not count if it is just an excuse for stash expansion!