Local group provides warmth

By NATHAN LAMB | Milton Independent Staff Writer
miltonreporter@yahoo.com

Members of the Milton Knitting Club proudly display the big pile of mittens, hats, and scarves they’ve made and are donating to the Milton Elementary School and the Milton Family Community Center. The knitters include (back row, L to R) Sarah Shepherd, Elaine Campbell, and Renee Johnson. Seated (L to R) are Alice Buinicky, Joan Harig, and Pat Laskowski.

A lot of things were lost in the mold at Milton Elementary School last year, and that list includes winter gear the school nurse keeps on-hand for kids who need them.

The loss has since been made good, however, by a group of local knitters working toward that goal over the fall and summer. Having received a big pile of quality, homemade mittens and hats as donations on Oct. 25, MES school nurse Alice Daley said the gesture was much appreciated.

“Gosh it was great,” she said. “It’s just so wonderful to be thought of.”

The donation came courtesy of the Milton Knitting Group, a largely informal group of local women who meet twice a month at the library to chat, work for a good cause, and - of course - knit.

The group keeps things pretty loose—there are no bylaws, officers, or agendas—but its members have really run with the idea of putting needles and yarn to work for charitable causes, said group coordinator Renee Johnson. Since coming together last December, they’ve made shawls for families of deceased organ donors and donating caps to area hospitals for premature babies.

The most recent project was suggested by a knitter who works in the schools, and the ladies attacked it with aplomb, she said.

“You mention the slightest project to these women and it comes out tenfold—they are just fast and generous,” she said.

The result was 50 hats, 28 pairs of mittens, and 12 scarves, said Johnson. That was enough to meet the needs of MES and have some left over for a donation to the Milton Family Community Center, said Johnson.

While charity is a pleasant outcome of the group’s activity, the impetus behind its formation was the now-out-of-business Alley Café behind McDonalds, said Johnson. She described the venue as perfect for a knitting circle, and its opening in 2006 prompted her to seek others interested in forming a group.

“Knitting is mostly a solitary hobby; you just kind of sit in the house and knit alone,” she said. “I knit by myself at home at night and I always thought it’d be great to knit somewhere else and have other people to talk with, share patterns, and other knitting experiences.”

It turns out Johnson was not alone. Eighteen women attended the first meeting, and a regular group of a dozen or so knitters has stayed on since then.

Among the regulars is Sarah Shephard, who loves knitting so much that she sometimes does it while waiting on red lights in traffic. That wasn’t the only reason the Burlington native and three- year Milton resident shows up though.

“Being relatively new to Milton I wanted to meet more people,” she said “There’s a lot of positive energy in this group.”

Overall, the group is clearly bound by a common love or knitting, and of being social while they do it. That figures to keep them together and knitting for the foreseeable future, said knitter Alice Buinicky.

As long as somebody needs something we’ll be here to do it,” she said.

The group holds its Knitting Nights in Milton from 6 to 8 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month. Those interested in attending may either show up with needles and yarn or call Johnson at 893 3427.