This week marks the beginning of the end of this summer's Parade of Visitors, which has been absolutely epic. But tomorrow, I must begin a new job (yay!) and go back to the real world. To cap off the manic and epic visitation schedule, my knitting friend slash all-around friend Ceylan came to visit. She arrived Friday and just left for the airport a little while ago, and we enjoyed several days of gabbing, sightseeing, shopping, pedicures, eating out, and of course, making stuff. But that wasn't the only reason for her visit.
I think everyone who's been a reader of this blog for a while knows that I'm a big, huge knitting nerd. I make wearable and usable items for myself and loved ones - much of it pretty neat stuff, if I do say so myself. And I get how, to the non-crafter, knitting might seem like an oddball hobby. But I've definitely made some of my closest friends because of knitting.
I've talked often here about Ravelry, which is basically a Facebook-esque social networking and hobby-sharing site for knitters, crocheters, weavers and spinners. It's a great website where you can post your project photos and notes, get ideas from others who have made what you're making, talk to designers and artists, and chat with other makers of things. It's pretty badass.
On the forums several years ago, I made friends with a lovely young lady by the name of Elin. She's Swedish-born, Singapore-raised and a current resident of Melbourne, Australia (and she will readily inform you that Melbourne is the best part of Sweden, bar none). We started chatting online after realizing that we liked a lot of the same knitting patterns and yarns and colors, and overall shared some style similarities and personality traits. We've been chatting regularly for a few years now. (I should mention that this is also precisely how I met Ceylan, who I now share an Etsy shop with). Ceylan and Elin were the first knitting friends I made online, and they also had been chatting for a good long time and are close.
A few months ago, Elin announced that she and her fiance James would be traveling to the United States for a couple of weeks, touring San Francisco, Seattle and New York. I was so excited! Finally, a chance to meet my Australian friend! I'm sure we both felt a little bit nervous at the prospect of meeting in person, but after such a long time chatting and sending each other little packages in the mail and generally getting well-acquainted, I was pretty sure that, as with my other knitting pals, it would be a breeze in person pretty quickly. Ceylan wasn't about to miss out on meeting Elin, so she decided to come up from Dallas for a few days to spend some time hanging out. So, on Monday night, after a few days together, Ceylan and I headed to SeaTac airport to pick Elin and James up...and we were delighted to find Elin every single bit as adorable and fun as we had expected. (Oh, and James is pretty great, too!)
Elin's visit isn't over yet - she and James will fly to New York on Saturday morning - but already I feel so lucky that my far-away friend was able to come to Seattle! We've done some sight-seeing and eating and of course knitting together, but I'm also making sure to give her plenty of time with her future husband, too. It's just so surreal, that this person who lives halfway around the world is finally here in the flesh! Each new friend I make is a gift, to be sure, but it certainly feels like special treat to get to meet someone from so far away. I'm already feeling a little bit sad that when I say goodbye to Elin, I won't see her again for a very long time!
Which leads me to that all-important question...WHY hasn't the transporter been invented yet?!?! WHY?! I want to just step onto a sparkly platform and tell Scotty to beam me wherever the heck I want to go! That way, when I'm sick of the cold, dark weather in February, I can just get beamed over to Melbourne to hang out with Elin in the middle of her summer. Not to mention visiting all my other friends and family whenever I feel like it. Jay and I could have celebrated my new job by going out to dinner...in Paris!
Elin and I knitting on the ferry to Bainbridge Island, 9/13/2011
