The Power of Community

One thing that I've been learning in my Christian walk the last few years, is the power of community and of continuity. I was in a triad study, just three of us, and since we were small, we could grow close and trust each other. As a result, powerful thing happened that wouldn't normally happen in a larger setting.

And then...there's knitting friends. Although I don't have anything like a knitting triad group, I do have my Friday afternoon group at my LYS, Silver Creek Cabin. I started going a few years ago and have been a little sporadic in attendance. When things heated up in my life, I went more often, needing to have just one place where there were no major crises. Of course there were always yarn crisis, but that's a different story.

The women have been very supportive. They have enabled me to knit my first sweater in a long time, followed by many more attempts. They have helped me in learning new things as I have also helped them. There's always food, laughter and a real down to earth group. We aren't pretentious or gossipy and don't require that you buy your yarn at the store. It's where I bought my first loom, borrowed a few wheels and started needle felting. They also come up with hilarious ideas. Like the time we had to dress up from the neck-up for Halloween (see pic below) or when the textile center had a Rowan exhibit, so we rented a limo and got champagne to go there. And then there are the summer things, such as the owner grilling us brats.

Last Friday, I brought my cardigan to work on. I had accidentally (of course, why would I do it on purpose) knit a sleeve on inside out. The only way to fix it was to rip and re-knit. I got it out, knowing that I couldn't tackle this on my own and alone. When I got to the point where I had knit up to what I had ripped, another lady cheered me on.

And so it occurred to me, that my LYS group was my support group for knitting. What had seemed at first to be a frivolous way to spend an afternoon when I could've been cleaning, has become something that I need to do to be sane. Where else would I go to get through the tricky things? To show off something new? To ask about a pattern or a color of yarn? Sure there are online places, but it pales in comparison to real live cheers and smiles. I am fortunate to have found a place where everyone truly does know my name, and they are glad that I came.

I sometimes wonder what makes our group so special. It is made up of:

• The shop owner - who runs around ragged sometimes while we're there and never gets to work on her own stuff.
• G - who knits a sweater every time you turn around and always leaves early to let her dog out.
• A - who knits a sweater a week and always wears one. Who is the go to person for our knitting problems.
• Jn - who is a newer knitting and whose 2nd project was socks. She is undaunted and she is fun. And can often be found busy doing something, probably gardening.
  
• D - who sometimes fills in for the owner. Who is very sensible and put together.
• Jnc - Who is true and caring, whose son we knit helmet liners for when he went overseas to Iraq. Whose wheel I currently have borrowed.
• N - Whose humor makes us almost roll on the floor. Who is not afraid to laugh at her quirks, and not offended when we laugh as well.

And so many more personalities. We are very different in about every way; age, lifestyle, income level, skill level, but when we sit around the table, we are equals, we are friends.

What can be done when a group of fiber enthusiasts get together, is often greater than what one can do on their own. For many years, I had knit "in the dark" on my own, following my own tune. But without the honing of others, I would not be who I am today. I am now "in the light" wth the support of those who understand fiber. Just another aspect that knitting and Christianity have in common.

May everyone who reads this be as lucky as I am to have such a group of supportive crafters. And may they always be a friendly group to cheer each other on- through crafting and life.

From my LYS Halloween party, 2008. She won something.

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I thought it was interesting last night that since I didn't advertise my blog post giveaway, my responses went down a bit. But oh well, if people don't want to read, then that's the way that it goes. Thank you dear readers for reading and posting! It was great to hear from you all, and many of you are crocheters as well. Kudos to you hookers!

The RNG has picked #4, so Andrea - send me your info so I can get the book out to you. Congratulations!

For this week's giveaway, I'm going to put together a little surprise love package from my LYS. A few gifty things that are in the shop, some may be unique to it.

In order to enter for this prize, please reply to this post by Saturday March 20th midnight, CST. I will use a RNG to pick a reply at random. You are welcome to reply more than once, but only your first reply will be entered. Good luck, and have a fun fiber week!