Go Ask Alice

This post is a little sad and a little fun. Let's start with the fun. 

You may or may not know that I knit. Hahaha! OK, we all know that I knit...like a maniac...a little bit obsessively perhaps? Be that as it may, and even though yarn is to me what vodka is to the alcoholic, knitting has brought me so many good things! For instance, had I never knitted, I may never have known how much I like photography! See the hand-knits on my porch?

Nice composition, perfect lighting (no filters), and joy in the stitches! I really do like to take pictures, that has never been a secret...but there is something about capturing the yarn in this way, in the cool of the day, with the morning sun not yet glaring down but just coming up...sigh!

Yarn is never self-conscious. Yarn never says, "Wait. You want me to do what? So you can take a picture?" Yarn never has a bad hair day, or a goofy smile...it just poses and waits patiently for the photographer to snap the shot!

Yarn is like Jenny.

Speaking of Jenny, had I never knitted, I may never have met many of the members of my Thursday night knitting group, CKW (Cleveland Knits West)! 

One cannot capture in a photograph how much fun these ladies are, or how varied their personalities. Of course, one can try...and Alice will always oblige!

I take a lot of photos at knitting on Thursdays. Most of them you do not see on Facebook, or even the blog, though we often share them phone-to-phone, with open-mouthed guffaws (I refer you again to the photo of Alice, above). And sometimes, days after taking a grainy photo of a friend, and still finding a way to use it for fun, I find other things in the picture. I mean, if I zoom out, you can see that Alice and Michelle were at first oblivious to the photos, but not Diana. Diana is tuned in...

...and then someone says something silly, and everyone laughs!

Finally, Alice sees me...and poses...and that picture above is forever captured for the world wide web. But Diana clearly disapproves! lol!

It's like that time in 2010, at Woolapalooza, when Ali noticed Michelle going a little crazy with the brown sheep...bwaaahahaha!

So, yeah. We have a lot of fun, and now I will get to the little bit sad part. Alice has been a member of our little band of banshees for the last 3 years, while her hubby has been stationed in Cleveland for his Coast Guard job. Alice has been a great friend to me, through thick and through thin...through better and worse, whether there are knots in my yarn, or stitches slip smoothly over the needles. Sometimes I just want to go ask Alice, and I have, and I am a better person and friend for knowing her.

Today, Alice and her hubby and the kidlets are on a new adventure. The next duty station is only a few hours away, but too far for weekly Thursday meet-ups (sad face here) but she plans to be back for the semi-annual retreats at Lakeside and (of course) Woolapalooza each May! Alice, we are gonna miss you, but we wish you all the best of everything!

If you have an Alice in your circle, someone who can be serious and silly, as needed and pretty much on demand, treasure her! And though I can no longer just go ask Alice in person, I thank God for technology! Marco...!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good health!