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A Non-Knitter Among Us

A Non-Knitter Among Us

Mar 23rd 2023

Many times over the last 7 years I have been told how lucky I am to work with Signature by knitting enthusiasts while working the Signature booth at trade shows. I wholeheartedly agree, but for different reasons than they usually think. Our conversations often include questions like:

Do you get all the free needles you could ever want? Do you have lots of time to knit during the day?

It is not until I get to the truthful answer that people are surprised.

Fact: I do not and cannot knit.

Fact: When Signature began almost 6 years ago, Cathy sent Laura and me to a knitting class to learn to knit so we could have a better understanding of customers and the business. My scarf was completed through row 15 (several of these rows were actually knit by my mother) and is still in its production state. Laura has gone on to knit countless sweaters, scarfs, and table runners.

Fact: The passion most knitters feel for yarn and knitting I feel for travel, but I have yet to go on an adventure without stopping in at least 1 knitting store or checking out the local knitting culture. So while I do not and cannot knit I truly understand the passion behind it.

This spring my husband and I traveled to Central America and I learned to spin yarn. Cathy was a bit surprised when I mentioned it in passing. While visiting an indigenous village we stopped at women’s spinning and weaving cooperative and learned all about harvesting cotton, spinning it into yarn, dyeing the yarn, and then creating one of a kind fabrics with the back strap loom. I even got to try my hand at spinning. I am possibly a bit better at spinning (it is incredibly difficult) than I am at knitting.

It was a wonderful day and was fascinating to watch the demonstration showing the process of how to get from harvested cotton to the beautiful final woven product. I picked up a few skeins of the final spun yarn before leaving to bring back for Cathy and Laura. While I completely lack knitting talent I can fully appreciate the hard work that goes into a lovely new pair of socks made from Guatemalan hand spun yarn. Hint, hint!