Library 7: Richmond Free Library
You can, so you will.
Library 7! The Richmond Free Library was the 7th stop on my journey to read, write, and knit in all of Vermont’s public libraries.
I read: a book about gender identity justice in schools and communities by sj miller
I wrote: a list of big ideas I want to center in an article
I knit: the end of one and the start of another chunky beanie (yet failed to get a picture of the actual knitting).
I visited this library at night because that is when the knitting group meets.
Taxidermy = no.
Christmas cactus = yes (propped from the local post office’s plant).
Suzanne the librarian gave me an awesome tour of this church-turned-school-turned-library, including the rentable tiny snow shoes, and quilt made by elementary students 30 years ago that is still hanging. Nothing pulls at this former elementary teacher’s heartstrings more than a collaborative student fiber arts project. Because it is a former school, this library also has an impressive performance hall with a stage and a grand piano. This was my second grandfather clock sighting.
The most excellent library staff at Richmond Free Library entered the first line of information into this handy spreadsheet of knitting-hours-at-Vermont-public-libraries. This appeared when a knitting librarian whom I previously only knew via social media (also named Hannah) learned about my project and sent a message to Vermont librarians requesting details about knitting meet up times, et voila: travel plans mapped out. Librarians! They know about social organizing.
Hannah’s request was sent through a magic digital relic of the nineteen hundreds librarians still use called a LISTSERV. The first LISTSERV I ever joined was a secret communication forum for LGBTQ+ college students in Memphis, Tennessee in the late 1990s. I attended a college in Memphis that explicitly forbade us from having a student LGBTQ+ organization on campus (they have since changed that policy). Because the underground student listserv was my first, I will always associate this form of communication with subversive queer organizing.
I bet a librarian helped them set that one up, too.
From the 2024 knitting in libraries LISTSERV I learned that the Richmond Free Library hosts a knit night on Wednesday evenings from 6:30-8:00 in the mezzanine, which I called the “lezzanine” due to my presence.
This is a serious knitting group. They were each knitting their 534798th sweater. I met Michael Hampton in person (finally) who was knitting an impressive cabled number and kindly shared a few insider tips about running a fiber mill, which my wife and I have considered doing as a side quest. My excellent fiber friends Jae and Christie joined as well, and we had a jolly time. There is something about the a knitting circle that invites honesty, comfort, and ease. This vibe was palpable in Richmond on that evening, and in response, I may have overshared about some work stress while working on my super bulky hat and enjoying the company of familiar friends and new fiber friends. I thought about it on the way home, feeling slightly regretful, but then muttered “bygones” and kept driving.
Thank you, Richard Fish, for your support with that. #IYKYK
A new fiber friend, Hilary, was knitting a puffin pullover by Roo Designs that made me want to visit all of Maine’s public libraries to see what people are knitting there, too. I imagine most sweaters in Maine feature lobsters, puffins, and lighthouses, because as one spends more time knitting, one moves increasingly away from knitting sensible, single-color objects to weird, novelty gifts that feature instarsia items of interest.
I call this the I-can-so-I-will law of knitting. The way this law works is that if I am a knitter and I have a friend who likes cats, I will find it progressively difficult over time to avoid knitting them an object that features an intarsia cat.
If you are a new knitter and think your current aesthetic is too refined to let this happen to you, I invite you to check out a stitch dictionary from your local public library and sit with the pages of items that you, too, could add to a color-work sock for your BFF: Squids. Coffee. Dragons. Sheep. Dumplings. Cats. Birds. Dice.
You can, so you will.
Love the kid's quilt! Pretty cool it's still up