Ms. Deb's Loom Knitting Journey

One of my friends that is an avid knitter came here for her annual visit to her time share. While she was here, we got together to do a little thrift store shopping. One of my favorite things to do. We went to about 4 thrift stores, I was looking for looms. My friend found a few items her knitting class. Unfortunately, I didn’t find any looms, but I did find a new pair of cargo shorts in my size for $16.00 and a giraffe picture for $1.50, I felt I had scored. We were going to continue on to another thrift store but, as I was about to pass a Knit Shop, my friend wanted to stop. Since she loves Knit shops, she was looking for a special yarn to knit a sweater, I agreed to stop. In the pass, when I lived in California being a Loom Knitter, I usually didn’t get a warm reception in the knit shops I had gone in.

For those who think, knitting, crocheting or loom knitting are the same, you would be wrong. Which I quickly learned, the first time I stepped in to a Knit Shop approximately 12 years ago. There were large tables and comfortable chairs for you to sit down and knit, the walls were filled with cubbies full of colorful yarn. I went to take a closer look at the yarn I found some of it to be very soft and some to have lots of texture. The last wall was full of knitting needles and other knitting accessories. I noticed that the yarn was in some type of a twisted formation that I hadn’t seen in the stores I shopped in. I later watched as the associated untwisted the yarn my friend purchased and put it on a wooden object to spin the yarn into a ball. I learn a lot that day, a ball of yarn was called a skein, you needed a swifter to roll the yarn in a ball. A large percent of the yarn comes from an animal like a sheep, alpaca, or llama. The price point of a skein of yarn was much more than I had expected. But it was when I asked the associate if they had knitting looms, that’s when I realize this was definitely not at JoAnn Fabrics or Hobby Lobby. Her reply was, we don’t carry anything like that here, as I was pulling a knitting loom from my project bag. It was a few years after that incident, before I went to another Knit Shop. My Friend convinced me to go to the grand opening of a new Knit Shop in our area, we were the first two customers, the owner was very nice, and the atmosphere was welcoming. Unfortunately, the owners Husband got very ill, and she closed her shop my friend and I was amongst her last customers. So, on this day many years later I was apprehensive about entering a Knit shop. But to my surprise the owners at this local Knit shop were very nice and informative. they were able to track down the yarn my friend needed for her sweater and much more. There was a table full of ladies working on various knitting projects, they were all very friendly and talkative. I spoke with the two owners and mentioned that I teach Loom knitting class to seniors and gave her my card.

The owners were very nice. When my friend went back to the store a few days later, to pick up her sweater’s quantity of yarn. The owner gave her a bag of yarn, she said it was a donation for my class. Their kindness definitely changed my opinion of a Knit Shop. We went back to her time share and played a game of outdoor checkers. My Friend returned home all excited, that she got her yarn and was able to knit her sweater.

It’s gr8 to have crafty Friends to share my Loom Knitting Journey.