Sunday, November 1, 2009

Bye Bye Betty

In October, the Knitty City community said good-bye to Betty Balcomb. Our loss is California's gain.

When Knitty City opened a few years ago, I went there on one of the first days and asked if there was anybody who could teach me how to knit a sock. I had knit one pair of socks already and started another, but totally forgot what to do after knitting the cuff.

My first sock:


Pearl told me that Betty could teach me. So I signed up to take sock lessons. Lucky me--nobody else signed up and I had Betty all to myself for a few weeks! The first week, Betty taught me how to knit the gusset and turn the heel.

My second pair of socks--thanks to Betty.


OK, now what? I had a few more weeks left.

She then taught me how to do mosaic knitting and intarsia and we also worked on kitchenering a seam. Betty and I then sat with scary-to-me lace charts and she patiently explained what the symbols were and how to read them. Betty took the scary out of charts.

So now Upper West Side Betty is moving even further west to Santa Monica. But not before she held a last-minute lesson.







And Betty will still be around. She has designs in the One Skein Wonder books and through Cascade Yarns and Knitty City.

But you also can join her very own Ravelry group and get to hear her tips first-hand!

Betty, wishing you tangle-free, sunshine-filled days ahead!

3 comments:

Bubblesknits said...

What a wonderful post. I hope Betty finds it, as it's sure to make her smile. :-)

Anonymous said...

I go to Santa Monica on occasion. Maybe I'll run into Betty there. Your socks look great!

stringplay said...

Seems like all the Bettys I have ever known have been super talented. How great to get such one-on-one instruction.