Aren't Knitters Fantastic?

On our very first day here in Dublin we arrived at the hotel at 10 AM and had to leave our luggage in storage as the room wasn't going to be ready until 3PM. We were in need of a nap and a shower, but had to keep ourselves occupied for a few hours so headed off to Blackrock village, as I'd heard there was an excellent knitting shop there.

We weren't disappointed.

Our visit to This Is Knit proved to be serendipitous. The shop stocks lots of excellent yarns - Debbie Bliss, Noro, Lorna's Laces, etc. - as well as needles, notions and lessons. We got to chatting with the two women (one is Lisa, my mind blanks on the others name), letting them know Elly's little story about leaving her home, her homeland, her friends and everything familiar to study abroad. They mentioned they have a knitting group that meets every Thursday and she should pop in and meet everyone. We took them up on their offer and showed up Thursday evening to check things out.

It was an interesting mix. I was surprised that most of the people we spoke to that evening were also non-Irish. We met Diane from Toronto, Yvonne from Newfoundland, Kalen from Washington State, Elana from Maine and Melinda from one of the Carolinas. This was the end of the day Elly got her new phone and they very sweetly passed it around the room and entered their names and numbers in it, giving her an instant network of connections.

*Elly is standing behind me right now saying "Hooray!"*

Yvonne offered a friend's phone number, a friend who has a 2 bedroom house to rent, Diane offered to ask around at work to see if anyone needs a tenant, and Elana offered up her fully furnished garden shed just three blocks from the school.

Needless to say, Elly will be returning to the knitting group this Thursday.

Aren't knitters fantastic?