Knit and Crochet Sunday Afternoon Buddies

Third Place Books Knitting Buddies

About three years ago I went to Third Place Books on a Thursday evening to meet up with a spinning group, but I had the wrong night.  As I was leaving, I saw a lively table of friendly looking women knitting and chatting away.  I started to walk past them, then made a u-turn and said "Are you some kind of special group or can anybody join you?"  That was the beginning of some great friendships and a Sunday afternoon activity of hanging out with some like minded ladies to chat, eat and knit or crochet.

Whenever I meet with my Sunday ladies, I think of my Mother's sewing group when I was about five years old, in Santa Cruz, California.  My aunts and Grandmother and mother would get together, bringing their sewing baskets and spend a morning working on stitching projects, drinking coffee, and taking a break from their household workweeks.  This, of course, was before any of these women worked out of the home, and their social ladies groups were vital for mental health!  I think it is equally important for all of us working women to carve out time to bond with groups of women friends, and if it can be combined with some creative handwork, all the better!  Showing off our latest projects, getting advice from our resident expert knitter Esther, or teaching our crafts to newcomers, we chat about our lives, through moves, marriages and illnesses.  It is somewhere to show off our grandbaby pictures and receive the hoped for oohs and ahs.  When I have struggled with illness or other hard times, it has been the most reliable place to know I will receive love, prayer and practical help.

I love my knitting ladies.  They have a warm place in my heart that keeps me feeling anchored through three moves and various jobs and relationships.  For a year, I moved away to an island reached only by a ferry, and my knitting ladies all carpooled over to share a ladies luncheon with me.  I was welcomed back with open arms when I returned to the area.  Thank you, you lovely ladies.  You brighten my heart and give me a loving place to come to any Sunday afternoon.