Ms. Deb's Loom Knitting Journey

After many months of searching for like-minded people who Loom Knit, I found a newly formed group of people on Meet-up that did all sorts of needle crafts. They met on Sunday mornings, at a Starbuck’s in my general area. When I text the group’s leader to see about joining the group, she was a little puzzled as to what a Loom Knitter was. She explained that my craft had to be small and portable, because the space in the coffee shop was limited. She said, I was welcome to come on down the following Sunday morning at 8 am. I was a bit nervous and thought about the meet-up the whole week. The possibility of meeting like-minded people was really exciting.

I got up early that Sunday morning grabbed my loom knitting project bag and off I went. It was an extremely small parking lot with only a few available spots. People were lined up out the door, seating was limited. I scanned the room and saw a lady bent over looking at what I thought, was an embroidery hoop. After a few minutes I got out of the line, then I walked over to the table. She looked up from her work, I saw a very young lady with lots of hair starring up at me. I introduced myself and explained, that we had conversed via text message the previous week. She introduced herself, but I was having some difficulty pronouncing her name. As I was sitting down, she asked me about my craft. As always, I was working on another beanie, I pulled it from my project bag. Very interesting, I don’t think anyone in this group does that, she said. We mostly knit, crochet, or cross stitch. I was a bit sadden by that news but decided to stay anyway. Within an hour other ladies joined us, they were all crocheters.

I came every Sunday for many years, and 99% of the time I was the only loom knitter.

Although, I didn’t find a Loom Knitters in the group, I did find lots of like-minded people. The group was mostly comprised of women of various walks of life and each one had a needle craft specialty. Men joined the group from time to time most of them were crocheters except for one you man who was working on a chain mail project. We shared tips and tricks, patterns, and we swapped recipes and yarn. We put our Hoops, Looms, Hooks and Needles down to participated in lots of community activities. We set up craft displays at the Orange Show Bowl, we won 1st prize 2 years in a row. Our White Elephant Holiday parties were definitely memorable. One of my favorite activities was, when we booked an Air B&B’s for 3 or 4 days and went on Retreats. We did lots of crafting, eating, shopping, laughing and retreating. The picture below was taken during one of those retreats, we stayed in a cabin in the mountains for a few days. What more could you want peace and quiet, fresh air, food and lots of yarn. Although, we did different needle crafts, we were still like minded, and shared a common thread, the love of YARN. The most difficult time for the group was in 2020, as we found ourselves shut off from each other and the rest of the world. We held together for a while by meeting on zoom on Sundays. But as soon as the restrictions were relaxed some of the ladies started meeting outside at various outdoor coffee shops. I had moved away by this time, and it was too far to travel every Sunday. Whenever they had a meeting in my area, I would try my best to meet up with them. It was always fun to get together catch up and talk yarn!

But, as in life things always change, the distant became too much and my focus changed, to look for crafty people closer to home. We still keep in touch via the internet. So, my Loom Knitting Journey continues, with a new direction.