Thursday, March 3, 2011

The joy of knitting with others

Literally for years, I have longed to get together with knitters to knit. It is a shared joy to be in the company of your fellow knitter, to commiserate over the things that go wrong, to delight in the things that go right, to cheer one another on when enthusiasm for a project wanes and to know that someone else in the world understands your need to knit.

Knitting is a "hobby", but it soon becomes part of you. And unlike many hobbies, not only does the person doing the knitting benefit, but so do all the knitters family, friends and sometimes random acquaintances. Knitting brings peace and comfort to all, even the non-knitter watching someone knit. Non-knitters may challenge me on that statement, but I dare you, non-knitters of the world, spend five or ten minutes watching someone knit, honestly judging your mood, heart rate, stress level and any other noticeable markers before and after, then tell me I'm wrong.

Regardless though of the benefit to the non-knitter, being in the company of fellow knitters/crafters is a special kind of joy. All the knitting groups I had found out about over the years have met at times or locations inconvenient to me and so I never was able to make it to any of them. Then several months back, I realized through the appreciation of my friends who "wished they knew how to do that" and others who had decided to pick up needles on their own who asked for assistance, that I no longer needed to find a knitting group. I could make my own knitting group!

We have been meeting now to enjoy our love of the fiber arts and coffee for a couple months now and it has been such a blessing. I love my knitting group and I wish I had thought of this years ago!