Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Online Magic...

OK, so I do Weight Watchers online. And I visit their message boards, because it's a great way to get tips from people, get the support you'd normally get going to a meeting, and just chatting with people who have similar interests. One of those message boards has been incredibly rewarding to me since we're knitters and we've combined our love of knitting with our urge to help people; we do prayer shawls. Now, we're a nation-wide group of women - we've never met face-to-face. But we have 2 common bonds: Weight Watchers and knitting. And we've combined the two. So far this year, we've done 3 shawls, each of us knitting anywhere from 3 to 5 inches per shawl. We've sent them on their rounds with a card that each of us signs, putting her city and state in with a message to the recipient. Sometimes we know the person. Sometimes we don't. This has probably been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. We've donated shawls to a free clinic, a woman who's having chemo, one of our own(!) who was hoping to donate the shawl to a womens shelter, but who ended up having a major health issue of her own; and we're going to start another one in the new year. It's a simple prayer shawl, k3 p3 pattern. We have knitters who can whip out a pair of socks in a weekend, and then there are knitters like me - slow and poky, barely out of "scarf school." This pattern can be done by any of us. And it's great. We've come closer together as knitters - and we all know that knitters are sisters-in-fiber anyway! We call ourselves "KnitWits" - and refer to each other as "Knitsters." These women, whom I've never met except through e-mail and the message boards, are friends. No, you don't have to meet face-to-face. You just need a common bond. Being knitters is our bond - and our craft is helping people from all over the country. As the year ends, I reflect on what we've done and I can truly say that I'm blessed to be a part of this group.

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