When we first moved here, I joined the local quilt guild. It wasn’t a good fit. I’m not saying it was all them . . I often don’t fit in well with groups. I don’t think I’m hard to get along with or rude but I so much love being at home that for me to get dressed, leave the house, go spend time with others . . it has to be really fun. Every month when it was time for the guild meeting, I’d tell myself I HAD to go. A couple of times I started and then turned around and came back home before getting there. Then I said to myself . . why am I doing this? So I didn’t renew my membership and never missed it at all. It all could have been that my quilting passion was fading because we know what happened there!
Then I started feeling like I’d enjoy getting together with some knitters but there was no local knitting group. There was a group that met down in Mason, which is probably close to two hours from here. I went there once and it was fun. I liked the ladies a lot but it was just too far.
Bethany is a lady I knew from the quilt guild. She’s the type that never meets a stranger. Everyone feels like Bethany’s best friend. She and I started talking on Facebook about getting a knitting group going. She knew the perfect location and I think we just had our one year anniversary! I was working on my Staring at Stars cardi when we had our first meeting and I finished that August 17, 2016.
There are seven of us who are there every week and one that comes when she can but doesn’t always stay long. We’re often there for three or four hours talking and knitting and talking. We meet in the back of a little coffee shop and I think we get so loud sometimes they’re going to ask us to leave but, so far, they haven’t.
It’s hard for me to believe that seven of us can all enjoy each other’s company so much. We really do have a very good, well matched group. Three of the ladies were in the quilt guild so I knew of them but didn’t really know them, one is my friend who I’ve convinced that she needs to be knitting and two were ladies I’d never met. (The 7th is me!)
One of the ladies (one of the two I hadn’t known before) is especially sweet and giving. She crochets and she’s always doing things for someone else and I just love her. I want to give her a big hug but I never know if she might think I’m crazy! She has some hearing impairment and sometimes I think we get too noisy for her when we’re all talking at once but . . she keeps coming back so I guess we aren’t too hard on her. Here are two stories I want to share about this lady.
First, she was talking about visiting someone in an assisted living home. My friend was sitting there crocheting and another lady in the home came over to her and started talking to her about crocheting. This lady was a stroke victim and had been an avid crocheter before her stroke. Apparently her daughter had been begging her to get back into crocheting and she had no interest in doing it. My friend spent some time with her and then said “Here, you finish this row!” and that was all that lady needed to get back into her crocheting. One of the workers took the lady’s phone, took a picture of her crocheting, sent it to the lady’s daughter and I think my friend said the daughter drove over there immediately to see her mom crocheting again. I said “I hope if I ever find myself in the predicament of the lady who had the stroke, someone will help me and get me back on track to doing something I love doing.”
Purple Hats
The second story about this lady . . I believe she said it’s happening in Oklahoma but every baby born in Oklahoma in October will go home with a purple cap. My friend is making 25 caps. They are so cute . . I think I may try to make a few purple baby caps to add to her 25. She isn’t a wealthy lady but she’s very giving, very crafty and such a sweet lady!
I am so blessed getting to spend a few hours each week with these ladies and I look so forward to our weekly meetings. That’s the way it’s supposed to be with guilds/groups . . not dreading going but yet feeling like you need to go.
carol fun says
Glad you found a group of like minded gals… it is amazing how time flys when you are knitting with friends. I didn’t renew my membership in my local quilt guild after going for 25 years… it just wasn’t interesting anymore and I hated the new meeting place…smells of mold and gave me a headache. Instead I get together twice a month with a half dozen quilty ladies…we do dinner and then go back to someone’s house and have dessert and share what we’ve been working on and what projects we want to do… so much more fun! I was almost forcing myself to go to the guild meeting and life is too short for that! Happy knitting!
Wendy says
I think part of the reason you like the knitting group is that you are actually working on projects. Where the quilt guild is usually just a meeting with someone guest speaker. You are not actively connecting unless you choose to. Unlike the knitting group where you are all sitting around talking and sharing. I know my quilting passion has decreased since the local shop stopped their Quilt Til U Wilt nights.
Connie K says
Love those stories. Especially the lady who had a stroke. Several years ago my mom had a small one. She is an avid crocheter and I think her determination to keep at it aided in her recovery. I know it was awkward at first but she kept at.
Paula Philpot says
Glad you enjoy this group. Love the baby caps…..Question: what happened with your quilting???? Was it the cat? Haven’t been as faithful reading this summer so I don’t want to miss anything. lol. Also, we have the Friday Girls at my quilt shop and we sew every friday while the shop is open. We all get along very well. Very fortunate when we can get along with alot of women. Paula in KY
tiptopquilts says
Why can’t I find a group like that! I’m happy to hear that they do exist.
cassews says
Its so hard to fit in with a bunch of women who are already friends, frenemies etc.. hahaha … I experienced the same when I went to a “guild”. One lady said my stitches were so far off -which was proven to be wrong by the guild President -and another said just don’t mind her she is a know it all. Well that is all it took after 3 months of that I left the guild. Several of the ladies come over to crochet or quilt with me throughout the week and I love it. Sometimes they will bring a friend who is interested or already knows whatever we are working on at that moment and its fun. Each takes turns bringing a snack and the recipe, I furnish coffee, tea and lemonade.
I am just to the point in life I want to be happy-don’t worry and live each day to its fullest instead of some ol crabby gus telling me what is wrong and its right all along .
Sue in Desert Hills (Phoenix), AZ (formerly in Scottsdale, AZ) says
Judy, is there a specific pattern for the baby caps? I used to use a round knitting loom and made caps for newborns. I no longer have my contact at the hospital but would love to make some purple caps to send you to deliver to your friend if that would be okay.
jatshaw says
Sounds like a fun knitting group! Lucky you. Here’s a link to a free Purple Hat pattern from a Twisted in Portland, OR; they even gave a % off for purple yarn. Our UW hospital gladly took them as they teach moms about “purple crying”/
Jan Woods Trenkler says
After about 15 years of active guiling ( and a stash big enough to start a store}, the “magic” has subsided. Left
my quilt guild because of too much competition and constant fund raising. I did have a friend who is a second grade teacher in a somewhat low-income/indigent school district. She knits a hat for each one of her class plus extras so no-one has to take the last hat. Some of the children and families sleep in their cars or on the street. It gets cold in So.Calif.and now brothers and sisters of former students look forward to their caps from their 2nd grade teacher. Love to hear your daily stories…..maybe a book someday?