The Circle of Yarn?

Saturday, April 11, 2009
I'm a loom knitter. I knit hats, scarves, and lap robes. I'm not very creative, and knitting with needles is a skill that is quite beyond me. The best thing you can say about my knitting is that I'm prolific. Knitting on looms is much faster than knitting with needles.

Once I had made hats and scarves for every friend and family member in my immediate circle, I didn't stop knitting. My relationship with knitting is way too OCD for that. Instead I found charitable organizations who would take my wares and find good homes for them.

One of those organizations is the Knit and Purl knitting club at the Longmont Senior Center. My Hot Mom is a member, and when she told me that the group routinely donated pieces to the local Head Start program, the holiday Adopt-a-Family program and the Cheyenne VA Hospital, I started knitting exclusively for them. That way I knew the pieces were going to people who needed them, and I didn't have to pay postage or haul bags of hats all over town. My Hot Mom could just drop off the pieces for me when I had a bag ready to be delivered.

After a few bags had been delivered, my Hot Mom started bringing back yarn from the club for me to knit into pieces for donation, and I became a "member at large" of the club. It seems that when relatives are cleaning out the effects of ladies who have passed on, they routinely find tons of yarn in basements and closets, and they donate it to the Senior Center for the Knit and Purl members to take home. Since I donate so many pieces, the gal who manages the group has started to pull out the whole skeins for me, which helps to keep my expenses down.

So my Hot Mom brought me a bag of yarn down yesterday when she arrived for our monthly family get-together. In the bag was a skein of pale lavender yarn that was purchased in 1972. It cost $1.17. This skein of yarn had probably been in storage in someone's house for over 35 years, taking up space. And now it's here in the Yellow House, where a portion will be loomed into a lap robe for a vet who has trouble keeping warm, and a portion will be loomed into a hat for a youngster whose family needs a hand.

I often wonder about the people whose donated yarn ends up on my loom, and what they knitted in their lifetime, and I also wonder about the people who receive the pieces that I create.

Knitting makes me feel connected to the human family.

5 comments:

Anne C. said...

For future reference: If I fall off this mortal coil (or whatever the phrase is) before you do, my family is directed to hand over all my yarn stock to you. (Note that, MG.)

Janiece said...

Hehe. If you "shuffle off this mortal coil"* before me, I'll keep that mind.

*Hamlet.

Anne C. said...

Ah, yes, now I remember. I figured it wasn't "fall off" but that was such a funny visual, I thought I'd keep it.

Janiece said...

I can't hear that quote without thinking of Jason Lee as Azrael...

WendyB_09 said...

That price sounds about right for the date on the yarn. In the mid-70's I worked running fabric and craft departments for major department stores, and for awhile had tons of 70's era yarn. Most went to a group that was creating granny square throws for one of local vet groups, and as there were enough unassembled squares in my stash to make a couple of throws, they were real happy to find homes for them!

Now my quilt fabric stash, on the other hand...I've got what is now classified as vintage fabric going back to the 70's as well. As I'm just coming out of a period when I didn't do much quilting, I may never use it all up.

WendyB_09