Gnorm hangs out with some gnitters

Freed from the confines of his traveling box--and liberated from the clutches of a two-year-old--Gnorm accompanied me to the (nearly) weekly get-together of my local knitting group. Last night's location: the cafe at Barnes and Noble. (Coffee, tasty desserts, and a place that stays open until 11 p.m.--a great combination!) First, he surveyed some of the treats arrayed on the table.


Then he helped Katie count rows. She's in the homestretch of a Wonderful Wallaby hooded pullover sweater for her daughter, and Gnorm shouted some encouraging words: "It's placket time! You can do it! This is going to look great!" After that, there's just the hood to knit and two little underarm seams to graft, and then the sweater will be all done--just in time for autumn.


All of that cheerleading wore him out, though. Fortunately, Linda has been knitting ball-band washcloths like crazy since she discovered them a month ago. She brought a stack of ten of them (each in a different color combination!) to show everyone, and they provided the perfect place for a quick snooze. We thought about seeing if "the princess and the pea" was also applicable to "the gnome and the pea," but he woke up before we could put something under his bed to test the theory.

Rejuvenated after that catnap, he stopped by Beth's end of the table to examine the moebius scarf she'd just started. She's using Rowan Kid Silk Haze, the absolutely luscious stuff that the Yarn Harlot famously nicknamed Crack Silk Haze. And for good reason: once you touch this yarn, you don't want to put it down. Just look at Gnorm here. We had a hard time peeling him away from this skein of it...


A new knitter, Aimee, joined us for the first time last night. Gnorm offered lots of encouragement as she cast on for a gauge swatch: "Lookin' good!" He started to warn her about the dangers of becoming a knitter and developing serious Stash Enhancement Tendencies, but the rest of us shushed him and whisked him away...


...down to Ruth, who's working on an adorable baby sweater. "Very nice pattern," Gnorm said approvingly, as he looked it over. "That's one lucky baby who'll be wearing that!"

Gnorm had a great time meeting everyone and playing with their yarn, but by the end of the evening he was pretty tuckered out.

He enjoyed his stay here, but he's been traveling for several months now and is eager to get back on the road to get home eventually. So this morning I bid him a fond farewell, packed some luggage for him, and sent him off to his next destination!