STARTING THE NEW YEAR WITH A NEW GENERATION OF CROCHETERS!

Happy New Year to all of our Woolworks friends! The year 2012 has come and gone and 2013 is a year that we hope will be filled with joy, prosperity, and of course, lots and lots of YARN! I want to take this time to say thank you to all of our patrons.  We would not be here without you and we really do appreciate each and every one of you.

We are still in the process of finishing up our class schedules for the months of February and March.  Again, we are doing our best to incorporate both knitting and crochet classes because we believe that many incredibly beautiful things come from both art forms.  We hope that the classes we have to offer inspire you and give you something to look forward to.

Speaking of things to look forward to, we are absolutely thrilled with our current project with the students at Marianopolis Prepatory School. Thanks to Rebecca Patenaude  last year, I had the pleasure of giving a workshop about fiber.  The students were introduced to yarn and where yarn comes from.  Sitting in the midst of spinning wheels, roving, drop spindles and looms, I was definitely pleased to see that spark of interest come alive.  I knew that I would have to go back and see if we could turn that spark into a passion for creating things with yarn.

Well, today was the day, and what a day it was!  In a span of two hours, ten students went from not know how to make a stitch, to nimble little crocheters zipping along on hats.  What was the motivation?

The giving tree.

I made a deal with the students.  I would offer my time, donate needles, and Woolworks would provide yarn IF they promised  that they would dedicate time during the year to make hats and scarves to donate to the Day Kimball Giving Tree, a tree that provides hundreds of hats, mittens, socks and scarves to children in need.  To sweeten the deal, I offered an addition prize:  the two students who hand made and donated the most hats by the end of November gets taken out with their teacher for a fancy dinner.

Boy, did those hooks fly!!  I was impressed with how willing these students were to donate their time and skills to helping those in need, and I assure you, they were willing to learn way before the promise of the dinner.  I'm so proud of them and I can't wait to see what the new year brings for these bright, young people.

Happy Knitting and Crocheting to you all!  Hope to see all of you soon.