theraineysisters knitting and so much more

June 27, 2010

From Susan — Knit-O-Rama

Filed under: Updates — lv2knit @ 4:36 pm

I certainly enjoyed myself at Eat-O-Rama -er- Knit-O-Rama!  What a great day — kudos to the fabulous planning committee. 

Let me get the important part out of the way first: the food.  The event was held at The Northland Inn in Brooklyn Park.  I live in Brooklyn Park and have attended many events there. 


Our Room

Outside our room was the snack kiosk.  In the morning, it was stocked with a continental breakfast: pastries, juice, coffee, hard boiled eggs, bagels, fruit, yogurt, etc.  Wonderful.   For lunch, we had the pleasure of sampling their famous buffet: salads, hot entrees, made-to-order grill (I had walleye!), specialty desserts…yum!  After that, we returned to our meeting room and discovered that the breakfast kiosk had been replaced with afternoon snacks: cheese & crackers, bars & cookies, pretzels, gummy bears, malted milk balls, and assorted sodas.  Okay.  I was in heaven!!  Clearly, I could live there and be happy for life!

The Program
A few months ago, an article appeared in the StarTribune about an American soldier in Iraq who was himself a knitter and taught his fellow soldiers how to knit.  Many of us implored the Guild to arrange for him to speak to our group.  Staff Sargent John Sorich IV was the keynote presenter at Knit-O-Rama.


Staff Sargent John Sorich IV

It was more than amazing.  John started out by describing the role his platoon (? right word ?) played in Iraq building bridges for use by both the military and the civilian population.   He talked about the unbearable heat, the emotional toll, and the sense of accomplishment.  After that, he talked about knitting — he learned here in the States and brought his yarn and needles with him.  Despite a bit of ribbing (pun intended!) from his peers, he eventually convinced a few of his buddies to give it a try to help stave off the boredom of their non-working hours.  Several of them really enjoyed it.  He had pictures and video of their knitting group and brought FOs to share.

The curved item in the upper right of the last picture is the ammo magazine cover he knitted from parachute cord, using pencils for knitting needles to get gauge!  You’ll note that all of his FOs are knit in “army green” using vintage patterns from a WWII knitting book.  I believe he said the color is Cascade 220 # 9547.   He said his current project is his first sweater, in (you guessed it) #9547 using one of the vintage sweater patterns!!

John was a great speaker, humble and very interesting.  It was wonderful hearing his story and we were all very grateful that he shared it with us.

Next was the Ugliest Knitting contest — very few entries!!  I think most of us rip out or discard our failures (or gift them….!!), so not many people had anything to show.

Rox Richardson and I were next up for Stump Ask the Expert.  


Susan and Rox

Rox is well known on Ravelry for answering technical knitting questions.  She writes for the Ravelry Newsletter and has a group devoted to her called Rox Rocks with over 550 members.  We answered questions from the audience for about an hour.  Last on the agenda was yours truly, discussing how to enter items in the Minnesota State Fair.

All in all, I think everyone enjoyed the day as much as I did.  I sure hope the Guild offers more of these events in the future.

11 Comments »

  1. That sounds like a fun day, and I think I could have entered several items in the ugly knitting category.

    Comment by surly — June 28, 2010 @ 12:25 am

  2. Thanks for the virtual experience. The soldier knitting is really special* – I love that he uses the vintage pattern. And I believe I’ve used that same color of Cascade for helmet liners!

    *Not that you and Rox aren’t special!

    Comment by twinsetellen — June 28, 2010 @ 8:25 am

  3. I hope so too but hope they hold it in New Jersey!! 🙂

    Comment by Michelle — June 28, 2010 @ 10:56 am

  4. Thanks for the great post! I am sharing it with my VA coworkers….if you ever find a source for the patterns, let us know!

    Comment by delores — June 28, 2010 @ 11:20 am

  5. Sounds like a perfect knitting day! Wish I lived close enough to join you.

    Comment by Kym — June 28, 2010 @ 4:59 pm

  6. How *very* cool!!!

    Comment by Romi — June 28, 2010 @ 5:15 pm

  7. Wow, very cool to hear about this event. I especially enjoyed hearing about the soldier who knits and inspired others to do the same…

    Comment by Kim Fluck — June 28, 2010 @ 11:27 pm

  8. Yay for knitting warriors!! twinsetellen got me into the next level of knitting while I was stationed in Iraq. She sent me a sock pattern, yarn and dpns and told me to just figure it out. (Up till then I’d been a very basic knitter!) Knitting in an up-armored HMWVV is one of my favorite memories.

    Comment by twinsetjan — June 29, 2010 @ 5:57 pm

  9. Loved the pictures of the Knit-O-Rama.

    Comment by Robyn Evenstar — July 1, 2010 @ 2:33 pm

  10. Wish Knit-O-Rama had been held in my area. SSG John Sorich is my kind of hero: a man who does what he loves and loves what he does. Rox rocks as well. Each summer I love seeing your post on the MN State Fair and would have found your how-to’s interesting. I’m not a competition knitter by any stretch, but am always inspired by your blog photos.

    Comment by ella — July 12, 2010 @ 1:02 pm

  11. Dear Susan, occasionally I dive into a blogger’s archives and I just want to say I hit the jackpot with this one. The story about John was particularly heartwarming. If I were in the writing/editing field I think Knitting Warriors would be a good idea for a book. Sort of like the Knit Lit series. But alas I am not -nor do I have the drive necessary to accomplish that kind of ambitious project. But I am great at putting a bug in someone else’s ear, so if I ever come across the right earbug-ee (no pun intended!) I will give it a shot.

    Comment by Chloe — March 22, 2019 @ 7:17 am

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