It's Like a Gun Show for People Who Love Yarn

That was the way the young lady described the event she was so looking forward to this weekend. It is the largest knitting convention in the world and it takes place in the Exposition Center near Chicago's O'Hare Airport.

She always called herself "crafty." Not in the sinister way, but indicating that she is good with her hands. And she has been that way since she was a baby. At almost 27 years-old her crafts have taken on a practical appeal. If she didn't mind getting dirty, which she does, she could fix cars.

"I signed up for two seminars," she said, knowing it would be appreciated on the other end of the phone. It was. "$200, but worth it."

The former Rosemont Convention Center, officially called the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, is just shy of a million square feet of exposition space. You could fit almost three IX Centers on the available floor. According to the young lady, a Chicagoan since shortly after she left college (see "A Bridge Too Close") the space will be pretty much filled with "crazy knitters and vendors."

Her grandmother, mom and aunt are knitters, but nothing that comes close to the passion she shows. She once knitted the wardrobe for an 18 member cast of a weird warehouse performance of "The Myth of Prometheus." The play was almost unwatchable, but her costumes made it worth the trip.

Stitches Midwest is a serious Mecca for more than just grandmothers and crafty daughters. It is probably mostly women, but there are bodybuilders, cops and combat vets who use the skill to purl away the boredom between fits of terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. I have even been told that knitting is to these wars what illegal drugs were to Vietnam. That might be a stretch, but it is not beyond caparison.

The young lady sent me a link to what she called the "myspace/friendster/facebook of knitters." It's ravelry.com, and I would add that it has a touch of eBay as well because members can sell what they create.

Decorating an entire wall of one of my favorite places in Akron, The Akron Art Museum, is a weaving made from whisky bottle caps. In other locations there are magnificent works created in much the same way my girl in Chicago knits a skirt. It is art in the truest sense. And it can keep you warm, too!

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