THE VALUE OF JOINING A GROUP

I have been asked for several years now to join a local fibre group. "Fibre Friends' meet twice a month, on the second and fourth Tuesdays at our local Neighbourhood House. Although I have attended their once a year get together with other spinning and weavers groups, I thought that it would be a bit too much of a distraction to my tapestry practice to join. People who love wool....really LOVE wool and it is difficult to pass up really beautiful knitting yarns and even worse the 'to die for' spinning tops!
Tapestry weaving is a very solitary practice. time to yourself to become immersed in your work is mandatory. Knitting of the other hand can be a very social activity.
So last month I decided to bite the bullet and went along to a meeting armed with a long forgotten knitting project. I found it difficult to sit at a table and knit a small project on 4 needles. So after the first meeting I decided to start a new project to take along. Sadly my new projects knitted up quickly, so now I needed a different project to take along. Last year Bendigo Woolen Mills discontinued their 'Rustic' range of 12 and 8 ply hand wash wool. I bought two lots to knit up into jumpers at some time in the future. So as a project, I began one of the jumpers. It took me less than one month to complete, but I may take it along on Tuesday to sew it up. Last night I began an 'Irish Hiking' scarf as a new project to take to the meetings, one ball knitted up already. I am not certain that it will last until Tuesday?

Our group is made up of knitters, spinners, felters and weavers, each with years of experience. I am enjoying the meetings and maybe my wool stash will be a bit smaller at the end of the year.

But it also runs the risk of growing if I look around for new projects to knit. Never mind I could always take a small loom with a tapestry!