I think I can safely say that we all had a blast last night. Despite the fact that the toilet broke as soon as Paul got home from work, and we had a toilet emergency for a while there, everything was working and cleaned up again by the time everyone showed up.
The evening began with a little game of Dutch Bingo. For those of you who aren't Dutch, this will be a strange and seemingly impossible story for you. But for those of you who are Dutch, you'll totally understand. You see, the Dutch tend to stick together. We're from a number of small communities, and many of us end up at the same college (Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan -- it's my alma mater). So once we meet a new Dutch person, we get the connections straight -- because there's always a connection -- and we figure out how we're related or who we both know. Well, Lisa's friend Marcy is Dutch. And before Paul left with Amy's husband, Jason, to go and play pool for the evening, he discovered that Marcy grew up in Hamilton, Ontario -- the same place where Paul's parents grew up. In fact, Marcy went to the same school as Paul's mom -- and Marcy knew Paul's mom's family. Paul quickly dialed his mom, and she and Marcy played a little Dutch Bingo of their own for a while. And then, after Marcy got off the phone, she and I figured out that her nieces were at Calvin at the same time I was -- and I know I knew them, but it's been a while, and I'm still trying to remember how.
So then the guys left, we paused in our Dutch Bingo (temporarily -- Paul's mom called back later, after she'd gotten out her old yearbooks, to ask a few more questions) and got down to knitting business. Marcy has been working on some incredible blanket squares, which she and her daughters and nieces and her mother are all contributing to make blankets for one another. She also helped Amy, who decided that it was time to stop practicing and do a real project -- so she started a gorgeous scarf out of Lion Boucle. Lisa continued with her practice piece, and she's starting to feel more confident. And I worked with Lynn, who picked the whole thing up especially quickly. She spent the evening working on a practice square, and I showed her how to bind off before she left. Then I gave her my yarn and needles to practice with until she gets her own. When I was working on teaching Lynn, I picked out a ball of sparkly white yarn, leftovers from the purse I made for my niece last Christmas, and I figured I'd start a scarf to match. And the rest of the time, I worked on my fuzzy peach top.
I didn't get a lot done, but as Paul said, I built something more important last night -- a new group of friends. I'll have time for the knitting stuff next month. We're planning to meet again on the 11th.
