When Worlds Collide...

I had this post all written in my mind, and when I got home, Blogger was down. AAARGH!!! But now it's back, so.....

This evening I had one of those experiences where one part of my world collided with a previously unrelated part. Now, some parts of my world meet and mingle with fair regularity. For example, the librarian world and the knitting world overlap frequently. But tonight, two hobbies - genealogy and knitting - came together.

I have to admit that I caused this collision. A couple weeks ago, I received a postcard announcing a meeting of the Friends of the San Antonio Public Library's Texana/Genealogy Collection. (I belong to the Friends because of my interest in genealogy.) The meeting included a presentation by Bobbie Kallison Ravicz. Bobbie's family, the Kallisons, are well-known in San Antonio for their western wear store (and previously, a feed store), their ranch, and the fact that Bobbie's father, Perry, hosted a local radio program from 1936-1981. That's 45 years on the radio, folks! Her father's show covered a little of everything, from politics and news to obituaries to ranching to bringing people who had something to sell together with people who needed to buy.

Bobbie is also known as the owner of San Antonio's only LYS, the Yarn Barn. Now, many of us whine about the Yarn Barn - why is it so dark and seemingly disorganized? why do they still hand-write sales slips? and what's with all the needlepoint stuff? But you don't hear people whining about Bobbie herself. In fact, we all hope that Bobbie will be working when we get to the Yarn Barn. She's sweet, knowledgeable, and welcoming.

So, since I'm fond of Bobbie, I made my way downtown to the Public Library after work to hear her talk. She was surprised to see me (her worlds colliding, too), but came to chat with me before her presentation. She said she was nervous, so we talked a little about knitting - she commisserated with me over the fact that the Rowan Denim turns my fingers blue and she made sure I was using a pattern that took Denim's shrinkage into account. I think she relaxed a little. And once she began talking about her father, whose pictures and records she has donated to the SAPL archives, she obviously forgot that there were 50 or so people listening and just told us all about him. We heard a tape of his radio show made the morning of the 1960 presidential election, when he interviewed his friend (and vice-presidential candidate) LBJ. She talked about finding the love letters her father had written to her mother in 1930, and how he seemed to be a totally different person from the South Texas good ole boy she knew. She talked about their ranch, their store, and about his life in San Antonio when it was still a dusty ranch town, not a tourist destination.

I'm so glad I went. When I took knitting lessons at the Yarn Barn, Bobbie occasionally talked about her parents - it was so nice to learn more about them.

Semi-knitting content: While waiting for Blogger to come back, I decided to do a little Olympic training. I hadn't planned to, since I'm one of those people who usually 'swatches' by just knitting the pattern. If after 4 inches or so, it's not right, I frog and start over. But I actually swatched with my Koigu and size 1 needles tonight. I'm on gauge and I love the yarn, but I discovered a problem with my equipment - one of my needles has a big snag on one tip. Guess I'll need to get to Yarn Barn before Friday to replace it!