Library 130: Norman Williams Public Library (Woodstock)
A smiler.
Library 130! The Norman Williams Public Library in Woodstock was the 130th stop on my quest to read, write, and knit in every public library in Vermont.
I read: Sharon’s homemade knitting pattern.
I wrote: knitting podcast recommendations from Helen
I knit: a Goldstar Sweater by Maxim Cyr
January 12 2025 marks exactly one year since I started this quest. Ten years from now I imagine that each visit will have a central memory associated with it. For Woodstock, it’ll be the knitters.
The knitters! This group has been going strong for ten years. On the day of my visit they were casting on their first group Knit-a-Long: the Laura Pullover by the Lamb & Kid.
I was kindly invited by both Rachel and Chris (thank you, fiber friends!) to join this knitting circle. The vibes: fun, dedicated, welcoming, adventurous, fluent. Many were wearing hand-knit sweaters while casting on another. They could name the yarn, the gauge, the pattern, the designer, the size, the techniques. It was like being at Rhinebeck. We could talk freely about knitting and understand each other.
As I made the rounds, I learned of a schism in the group based on a classic knitting conundrum: to swatch or not to swatch. Rachel: swatch evangelist. Kathy: anti swatcher. Kathy wore a swatchless sweater that fit perfectly. Charlotte had recently knit two swatches just for a hat(!), thereby identifying herself squarely in Rachel's camp. I am also in Rachel’s camp, but was soon reminded that this camp is not a sure bet, when Debbie told me a gut-wrenching story about how she had to frog the entire body of a Lopi colorwork sweater because her swatch was knit in stockinette but not stranded colorwork.* Damn those floats. So hard to get just right. Mine are always too loose. Even swatching can’t always save us from ourselves.
I realize that by naming this a schism, I have created a false dichotomy of knitters. I am sure there are some knitters who feel ambivalent about swatching, or who choose to swatch sometimes but not others. This taxonomy of swatchers fascinates me. Perhaps because I am a steadfast swatcher, I am drawn to a knitter who dares not to swatch. As a rule follower, I am jealous of their capacity to invite such danger and risk into their lives. Oh, to live so free.
As I made the rounds I also learned why this group exists: a cherished local yarn shop called The Whippletree closed a few years back. The shop’s knitters became nomadic, meeting in people’s homes sporadically before finding the library.
This library! What a glorious place to knit!
Rachel kindly gave me a tour and showed me the knitting periodicals their guild supports in the reading room (rest in peace, Pom Pom Mag). I mentioned that I wanted to take a photo with the Woodstock Town Smiler before I left town, after learning about it in a 2023 episode of Stuck in Vermont. The “Smiler” is a chalkboard in the center of the village, donned with a stunning work of chalk art about once a month. Pedestrians can witness the art being created live. The original name of this chalkboard was the “Woodstock Town Crier,” and it contained helpful information townsfolk might want to know in the mid 1900s. Adrien turned it into the “smiler” during the pandemic.
When I mentioned that I wanted to see it, Rachel told me that the artist is the Youth Services Director and was in the building on duty! The video mentions his job, but I’d forgotten this detail. This explains why the children’s space feels like an art gallery: Bespoke literary installations all around. Adrian kindly posed for a photo with Hen Solo. I appreciate artists and their willingness to be weird without advanced warning.
I found the smiler on the way out of town and drove home on dark, snowy roads.
Thanks for your kindness, knitters and librarians! I’ll remember that forever.
*For those fluent knitters reading this part of the post who have an urge to recommend that for a colorwork yoke sweater knit in the round, that it is best to knit two swatches in the round, one for stockinette and one for colorwork, I’m sure that Debbie is so sorely aware, and that sharing this advice would be the knitting equivalent of shots fired. So let’s just leave that out.
