Loose Knit Group gives warmth to the needy

By Elise Franco

efranco@vindy.com

Youngstown

They may be called The Loose Knit Group, but these women are anything but.

The group, started in February 2009 by Anita Wesler, horticulture educator for Mill Creek MetroParks, has become a way for Mahoning Valley women to give back to other women.

Wesler said she was inspired to begin a knitting and crocheting group after learning about a nationwide project called Warm Up America.

She said the group, made up of women from age 20 to 90, meets the first and third Friday of each month in the library at Fellows Riverside Gardens to make blankets for local women in need.

“You can be a beginning knitter or someone who has done it for years,” she said. “We make 7-by-9-inch rectangles then knit them together into a blanket. It’s really nice.”

Wesler said in December 2009, the group dropped off 17 afghans to the YWCA and has since made about 20 more that are nearly ready to donate.

“We decided to give them to women staying at the YWCA who were in transition, trying to establish a home,” she said. “I really liked the idea of giving the afghans made by women to women who needed them. They really appreciate it.”

Anna Marie Barksdale, YWCA housing and supportive services director, said the organization is grateful for the group’s generosity.

“These families are struggling to build a brighter future that includes a warm home and caring friends and neighbors,” she said. “We are extremely grateful for volunteers who share their hearts and resources with those in need.”

Wesler said the women also crocheted 10 smaller afghans that they’ll donate to Akron Children’s Hospital in Boardman.

Aside from the afghans, member Elizabeth Dailey, of Youngstown, said this year some of the group worked on a second project.

Beginning in March, the women began creating a knitted garden landscape, complete with a chair woven with yarn and entwined with knitted flowers that represent the MetroParks gardens.

Dailey said she thought of the idea after seeing a photo of a similar woven-chair project in a yarn catalog.

“It took us a while,” she said. “We started working on it around March.”

Dailey said members pitched in to knit roses, daisies, lavender and daffodils — some of the gardens’ most beloved flowers.

“Right now it’s in the library,” she said. “For now, that’s where it’ll stay.”

Jeanie Williams, of Boardman, said she’s been knitting for years and joined the group in March 2009.

Williams said the women who participate have become very close, and community members have been more than supportive.

“The interesting thing is, none of us have even bought yarn,” she said. “We’ve had so much yarn donated that it’s overwhelming.”

Williams said she works mostly on knitting the blanket pieces together.

“It could take two months to complete one,” she said. “It’s not hard, just time- consuming.”

She said the nice thing about the group is that it’s commitment-free.

“The attendance varies in size,” she said. “There’s a sign-in sheet for each meeting, and you can come once, or you can come every time.”