Every year and a half or so I find I’ve had enough and desperately need to get away for a few days. This time, I went to Santa Clara for this.

I strenuously object to the tired cliche “it’s not your grandmother’s [insert reference to knitting here]“, partially because if I had some of the knitting chops your grandmother has I’d be pretty pleased with myself, partially because it seems self-evident. I also object to dubbing Lucy Neatby “the Michael Jordan of knitting” because although Ms. Neatby is undeniably brilliant, Cat Bordhi immediately comes to mind when deciding who deserves that appellation. (Though I might be biased. I reserve Cat Bordhi’s new book for reward reading, when I manage to finish a piece of something I’m required to finish knitting.) I understand the oversight, however, as Lucy Neatby is an excellent person to help make the point that knitting is not necessarily about granny lace. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that. See above.)

The tone of the news segment seems to be “How cute, knitting has gone mainstream,” which is ignorant and has missed the trend by a few years. (Knitting in LA actually seems to be on the downswing, as evidenced by many yarn shops closing or moving or otherwise becoming unable to sustain their business.) But it does show y’all what the heck I was doing the weekend before last, and for that I post it for your viewing pleasure.