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Knitting Together, Apart Knit one, purl two. “Knitting is cheaper than therapy.” Knit three, purl four. “I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t knit.” All you need are bare hands and a pair of knitting needles to create incredibly satisfying projects, especially during the sheltering of the pandemic. Meet three women who found solace, kinship and camaraderie in knitting together. Susan Post, the owner of A Good Yarn, noticed an boost in sales accompanied by the whirring of knitting needles from newcomers to veterans of the hobby. Customers can order their supplies online and join a Zoom class to learn the skills necessary to create sweaters for the holidays and scarves for the grandkids. Post’s customers share that knitting has become more than a hobby: It’s become a way of life during quarantine. As a result, their online classes have expanded to 15 to 20 participants all from different skill levels. “These classes have a silver lining,” says Post. “We can connect and knit with people we only normally see for a week over the summer.” Post herself has been knitting since she was in high school and has found it to have a methodical calming effect. “Knitting is cheaper than therapy” is a common phrase in the knitting community and is fully backed by this veteran knitter. Knitting with a group at Siesta Key Chapel for the last decade and a half, Ruth Ulrich took her 68 years of knitting experience to grow the church’s stockpile of knitted creations. The group has met the second Tuesday of every month for years, only stopping due to the global pandemic. When they get together, these knitters mainly work on their projects to donate to charities such as Guideposts, Knit For Kids, Mothers Helping Mothers and Habitat for Humanity. Ulrich is looking forward to a time when the group can meet safely again for, as she says, “the fun time of getting together, talking and lunching.” Ever since Kelly Tignor was a little girl, she knew how to knit but it wasn’t until her senior year of high school that she took it back up again as a hobby. When the pandemic hit, she was inspired to pick up her knitting needles. Her childhood experience allowed her to dive back in, even though it had been a while. She has been working on the same blanket ever since senior year—her goal is to make it massive. Tignor, like Post, feels knitting serves as a destressor. “I have ADD, so I love doing something that occupies idle hands and keeps me busy,” says Tignor. Her favorite thing? “I love to knit while I’m watching Real Housewives.” —G.Holliday A Good Yarn, 7222 S. Tamiami Trl. #108, Sarasota, 941-487-7914, agoodyarnsarasota.com.
“I think quarantine has definitely inspired me to pick [knitting] back up again with all the free time I have now.” — Kelly Tignor, local knitter
Garden Party Showstoppers With a noticeable uptick in green thumbs, an interest in home gardening has peaked thanks to a pandemic. Local nurseries are not complaining. Sparse, shabby, derelict lawns saw lush summer makeovers—filled with vibrant colors, fragrant florals, butterflies, birds, edible treats and soil-filled fingernails. The best part of this newfound affinity. The gorgeous greenscapes and outdoor sanctuaries we’ve created during those months of isolating will outlast long after COVID-19 and reap benefits to the environment. Someone who knows a thing or two about sprucing up landscapes with greenery is Kathy Crowley of Crowley Nursery and Gardens. As the family business grew out of its backyard facility, the Crowleys moved to larger operations out in Old Myakka. Since expanding, she and her family have been bringing beauty to backyards for close to 30 years now. Kathy weighs in on the most popular plants flying off the shelves and the most sought-after garden additions this spring–summer season. Edibles are experiencing even more love than usual at the nursery: Avocado Florida Haas, Brogdon, Lula, Marcus Pumpkin and Mango Dwarf varieties like Mallika Nam Doc Mai and Maha Chanook are among popular purchases. In addition, citrus trees such as Persian limes (the bartender’s lime), Key limes to make pie, juicy Meyer lemons for lemonade, Ruby Red grapefruits and, of course, Florida orange trees to make world-famous orange juice are setting roots in neighborhoods all over for personal picking. There are also new citrus crosses Kathy says, such as Sugar Belle, which is honeybell crossed with clementine (Little Sweetie), and a new mandarin/tangerine cross called Matango, which is a sweet, tangy and tart mix. “It’s one of my favorites, which surprised me, being a sweet freak.” —B.Mattie Crowley Nursery & Gardens Inc., 16423 Jomar Rd., Sarasota, 941-322-0315, crowleynursery@gmail.com.
7 “The biggest sellers at the moment are food gardens; bamboo; gardenias like August Beauty, which blooms most of the year; Brunfelsia perennial flowers; Grand Duke Jasmine to steep in black tea; and hedge plants to hide the neighborhood. And as always, butterfly- or bee-attracting plants like Dwarf Powderpuff bushes and Texas Sage shrubs are popular.”
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8/18/20 11:44 AM