Making It
Full Circle
It was July 2018, and I was sitting on the beach in Far Rockaway celebrating my birthday with two of my closest friends.
I was burnt out from working in the fashion industry and depressed because my friends were leaving the tri-state area for less expensive parts of the country.
I needed a way to make new friends, but all I ever wanted to do was watch reality TV and stitch on my couch. And I certainly didn’t know how to talk to new people.
An idea for a knit-and-crochet social club had been bubbling up in my brain for a while, but it wasn’t until that day on the beach when I decided to finally say the words out loud: “I want to host events where people can knit and crochet while watching movies and TV shows.”
I was expecting to be laughed off the beach, but instead they took me seriously, and that caused me to take myself seriously. Sometimes you need to see yourself through someone else’s eyes in order to see yourself accurately.
The lead-up to my first Bobble Club House event was stressful and full of me faking it until I made it. I called up major yarn companies blind and sent out what I now know to be press releases to major publications. At my first ever event, I had an entire table of executives from one of those companies in attendance.
I was having such a marvelous time seeing my vision come to life—until one guest said, “Well, you know Geraldine is already doing this?”
I did not know that, nor had I ever heard of Geraldine. In fact, I had done next to zero research on the yarn world I was claiming to already be a part of. If I had been a tech bro, you all would have ripped me apart.
The rest of the event went swimmingly, but I couldn’t shake the fear that my dream might come across as a knockoff.
So I did what any anxious newbie would do. I showed up to one of Geraldine’s events “incognito” to scope things out.
In the weeks since my event, I had built her up to be a mean girl type. I imagined her as Blair Waldorf sending her minions to my event in an evil plot to ruin me. But the second I walked in the door, she greeted me with the warmest smile, a huge hug, and a very loud: “HI SAMANTHA!” She recognized me instantly.
So much for staying lowkey.
Her tone wasn’t snarky but genuinely warm. As any cynical person will tell you, it is jarring when you meet someone who radiates goodness.
This was my first real introduction to the differences between the high fashion world and the yarn world. Sure, we have our dramas in our yarnie corner of the internet. But in my fashion career I once saw someone very famous tell a now infamous model that “it’s a shame you have a terrible walk” RIGHT TO HER FACE. So a person being genuinely wonderful to their “competition” was like landing on a different planet.
Then, to top it all off, in the middle of her event, Geraldine gave me the space to introduce myself and to talk about my Knitflix events. She let me pitch my events to her community!
That night left a lasting impression and told me two things: She was the blueprint for how I wanted to show up in the yarn world, with kindness, grace, and warmth. And we were going to be friends.
Our events were very different because we are very different. And Geraldine reminded me that no one can replicate your idea or be your “competition” if you are being true to yourself because they are not you.
I’ve cheered her on as she built The Wandering Flock yarn line from the ground up. And she’s cheered me on as I transitioned from event organizing to designing. Her platform has exploded over the years, and yet she never lost that bright light that I first saw.
In the years since, when that little bitter Betty in me begins to show her face, I remember Geraldine. You can go one of two roads. Make the community a better place by supporting creativity or you can try (most of the time unsuccessfully) to hoard it. Without her generosity on that day, I think I would have gone down a very different path with my own career.
When Shelley Brander and the Knit Stars team reached out last year about being a part of Season 10 and asked who my dyer of choice would be, there really was only one answer. For my Knit Stars class, Crocheting with Beads, my yarn, Mahogany, was dyed by Geraldine and her team (shout out to Marie).
This was weirdly enough the first time that the two of us had actually worked together in an official capacity. But you wouldn’t know that by the shorthand we used. She understood my heart.
This is the kind of full circle moment I’ll never stop being grateful for. I hope people can feel the love that went into it from both of us.
Lovely—and very beautiful yarn too.
That color is gorgeous! Good luck to the both of you in your future endeavors.
This is really sweet. It gave me an idea to get a knitting/crochet group out to sit opposite an ICE facility. That would confound them, I think.
Love it!!
This is a great idea!
Yes it would
It’s amazing what women can do when we work together! Thank you for sharing this. And, that yarn, is gorgeous!!!!
This should be the blueprint for all communities; be it political,religious,or social . The world would be a much better place.
Yes it would!
What a lovely story! Thank you for sharing the light.
You made my day with this lovely piece in an unlovely world!
What a testament to people in the yarn world who work together for the good of others. Thanks for introducing me to Geraldine. She sounds delightful.
❤️❤️❤️
I love everything you’ve said here.
What is this glorious colorway you’re showing?
A wonderful reminder – thank you.
I WANT this beautiful yarn shown. Where? How?
What a great story! Thank you for sharing ♥️
Beautiful skeins of yarn
That color is amazing. Plum meets pumpkin equals Plumpkin!
Great story. One of the lines that hit me hard in the Season 10 preview was something like “I lean toward love”. I recently had my feelings hurt by two really great friends (they are going on a trip to Ireland together and it felt like they had been keeping it a secret from me). So I had been sulking around playing over and over in my head nobody likes me, I guess I’ll go eat worms.But then that clip hit me and I thought, get past this. Lean toward love. It’s true that we get to decide how we want to frame our thoughts. I am so grateful for this knitting community which reminds me to Lean toward Love.