Knitting Community
I mean knitting both as a verb and a noun, here. The knitting (creation) of community and a community of knitters.
Finding My Place
My husband plugged into the activities of our 55+ community sooner than I did. I needed to feel settled into the house. Oh, there is still A LOT to do. But it’s coming along. And one day, I picked my head up from all of it and said, “I’m ready to start plugging in.”
As I started playing pickleball (the first thing I started doing besides a few random events), I would tell people my name, and they’d respond, “Oh, Andy….” “Yup, that’s my husband,” I’d say. Andy was already plugged into pickleball, tennis, golf, and poker. He even made the community newsletter as a newcomer. So even at the random events I attended, I’d get the same “Oh, Andy…” comments.
Then I did a thing.
There is not a knitting group here. There are book clubs (maybe I’ll join one after I read all the books I’ve bought and have yet to read), the aforementioned sports, a hiking club (I did go on one hike and wound up with a deer tick attached to me), a garden club (I’ve plugged into that), and multiple game groups - poker, canasta, mahjong, bridge, cribbage. None of those are my thing. And what I really wanted was a knitting group. So, I started asking around. And wasn’t finding knitters. Oh, but they are here! Because I talked to someone who told me how to get the word out and the response to a knitting group was huge! At this point, we are 30+ strong and have reserved two time slots in the clubhouse. We start next week. And the fun part about this is that I have started hearing, “Oh, you’re the one organizing the knitting group.” Another person said, “You’re famous.” Haha. Fame is not anything I ever wanted or want. But I am happy I am starting to get known for myself instead of as a spouse, and that I’ve brought together knitters who always wanted a knitting group, they just needed someone to start it. And that is why I said that “knitting community,” the title of this newsletter, is both a verb and a noun. I have knit together a community. Pretty cool. Now, if I could only knit a sweater this quickly….
PS I still love dropping in to the knitting group I was in back in Princeton.
From the Website…
Clicking on the underlined title will bring you to the post on my blog.
I’m on a new learning adventure, still trying to find a place to ground myself in my nature-based spirituality. This post took on a life of its own, but that’s how it goes when I write. It’s like things write themselves sometimes.
It has taken me a while to be able to write this, as I needed to process the loss I felt when I discovered the new owners of our house in Princeton cut down the Sassafras trees I loved, before I could put anything into words. You might say, “Just a tree, what’s the big deal?,” but for someone with an animistic view of the world, it is a big deal.
This is the title of a book I have in my library. I share it and my perspective on plant identification / plant families (with a focus on the mint family). I also invite you to add your own thoughts in the comment section. I am far from a botanist and have found this to be a great book full of information and pattern recognition tips for identifying plant families.
Peace and herbal blessings,
Chris
I love how you took the principle of make what you want to see in the world a reality, and you've found a wonderful community of knitters! I hope you continue to enjoy attending your group sessions. I know my readers will resonate with what you've written here, so I've shared it with them in my Tuesday post.
I love this! Knitting together a community group for knitting. Magic ✨