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organization in need.<br />
Then there were the 60 felt nests donated<br />
to the now-defunct Antler Ridge Wildlife<br />
Sanctuary in Newton. (The sanctuary recently<br />
closed following the death of its founder.)<br />
The tightly knitted felt nests provided warmth<br />
and comfort for rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels,<br />
who were on the mend from injuries.<br />
In addition to charities, family members also<br />
reap the rewards of each member’s skills.<br />
“Five to ten percent of my winter knitting is<br />
given to family members as gifts,” said Sharon<br />
Hill of Roxbury.<br />
A well-versed knitter, Smith takes on the<br />
role of teacher and problem-solver during the<br />
weekly gathering.<br />
“Every newbie starts with [knitting] a<br />
washcloth, a ball of yarn and needles,” Smith<br />
said.<br />
Many of the women such as Alonge and Smith<br />
were pretty much born with a ball of yarn in<br />
their hands.<br />
The granddaughter of a seamstress who<br />
immigrated from Italy to America, Alonge<br />
developed a love for sewing through the love<br />
of her grandmother. “I was always by her side,”<br />
she said.<br />
She flirted with quilting 25 years ago and an<br />
in-person class unleashed her “addiction.”<br />
“The bug bites you,” she said.<br />
Smith, too, developed her crafting skills at the<br />
side of a family member.<br />
“I started learning when I was 4 years old,”<br />
Smith said. “I learned from my mom. She taught<br />
me knitting, embroidery, crochet, sewing and<br />
needlepoint.”<br />
Like Smith, Hill was also introduced to knitting<br />
by way of a family member.<br />
“I started when I was 6,” said Hill who was<br />
wearing a sage green, handmade cardigan. “My<br />
grandmother taught me.”<br />
She found out about the Knitwits through<br />
another knitting group and came on board eight<br />
months ago.<br />
Giving in nature, Hill stitches from the heart<br />
with the sole intention of caring by sharing. She<br />
reaps the warm-and-fuzzy feeling she gets by<br />
giving away her hats and scarves, for example.<br />
“When you knit for someone else, you put<br />
love in all those stitches,” she said.<br />
In addition to knitting, Hill also crochets, spins,<br />
weaves and cross-stitches. She is the proud<br />
owner of three home spinning wheels.<br />
“Yarn shopping and knitting are two separate<br />
hobbies,” she said.<br />
In addition to weekly knit-ups, the ladies<br />
participate in what Smith refers to as class trips.<br />
On a recent Thursday, the ladies were signing<br />
up for a cruise aboard Miss Lotta in June. Here,<br />
the Knitwits will mingle with other knitting<br />
groups for a day of fun, sun and purl one.<br />
The outings are knitting themed and often<br />
include stores that cater to their craft such<br />
as Rows of PurL in Chester (where they also<br />
participate in classes) or The Knitter’s Edge in<br />
Bethlehem.<br />
In the near future, the Knitwits have their<br />
sights set on visiting an alpaca farm and a<br />
spinning and weaving facility.<br />
“It’s been an amazing journey of ideas and a<br />
spontaneous combustion of joy,” Smith said.<br />
As the lunch winds down and the knitting<br />
ramps up, the ladies are asked to inscribe their<br />
names on a wooden plaque on behalf of their<br />
patronage at Patrick’s Pub. The plaque will be<br />
displayed at the restaurant in honor of them.<br />
Come summer, the Knitwits will still include<br />
Patrick’s Pub in their travels but will also branch<br />
out to wherever their yarns and threads may<br />
lead them.<br />
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