The Loopy Ladies

Hey, we've started a knitting group at church, and I love it!

We started out meeting in the Youth Sunday School Room at church -- you know, the room with saggy couches that require a helping hand to get out of -- but have since decided that it is more comfortable to knit at a local Caribou Coffee shop. We're callling ourselves the Living Hope Loopy Ladies.
Not that you need to go to our church to join us. Not everyone in these pictures is church member. We just want to have fun. And with so many people wanting to learn to knit these days, we thought it was a great opportunity for fellowship. Maybe a chance to show love in a practical way. You can knock on a stranger's door and announce "God loves you!" but that is flat out annoying. If you knitted someone a gift and said it was from the local church they would probably think you were trying to get them to go to your church.
If I was in their shoes I would be turned off. We don't want to do that. We just want to do something that is fun and might be helpful to other people. Instead of paying $30.00 plus materials for a class at a yarn shop, people can just join us and we'll get them started. We all started doing the same project: Felted Bags. It's great first project to teach someone how to knit because the felting hides a multitude of mistakes. And pretty much everyone can use a bag for something. When Debbie tells people that her purse was her first ever knitting project they are amazed and admiring. Now there is a core group of us that knit and we can each do what we might like. Lorri is working on a dishrag and Susi is working on a hat. Brandi is knitting cute little dresses for her new baby. Susie is working on an afgan. Terry and Robbie (the two who were really not at all sure they would like to knit but took to it like ducks to water) are making more felted bags. And we've pretty much taken over an entire section of the coffee shop every Thursday night. It's a blast. The paster's wife surprised me when she suggested that when we begin our fall Bible Study we would of course be knitting during the discussion time. tee-hee! A convert!