Regrouping

A couple of months ago I was lamenting that there was no knitting groups here I could get to. I'd looked around and the only ones I found were either at times I couldn't attend or just too far. My mother suggested I start my own knitting group and I had to think about it. It's always more fun to be an attendee than the one in charge of attendance, isn't it? But after consideration I realized that would be my only alternative - it's been way harder than I thought it would be. I don't really know anyone here aside from my co-workers, all of whom don't knit and none of which live in Clatskanie. And then the bigger problem - where? When we lived in WV I was in the one that met at the Morgantown Hotel run by Dottie for years and when I moved to PA and started working up in Monroeville I found a group halfway between work and home in Bridgeville. We started off in the LYS Kid Ewe Knot until she rather unceremoniously decided to shut it down with no warning, that was a bit of a panic. But it worked out - we moved to Bridgeville Library who welcomed us with open arms and we grew the group. It turned out be a very good thing, not only for the group, but for our pocketbooks! But here the LYS is only open for a few hours a week and doesn't have a group and I didn't know any of the local community buildings.

So, my first issue was where? I found the local library and it is very small - there's no meeting room but they do have a large table. I planned on having it late afternoon so people that work could attend(like the person starting it!) and also I was pretty sure the library would not be busy between 5 and 7 pm which is important since there is only one table to sit at. I talked to the  woman at the desk and she was fine with me starting a group. I posted on the Clatskanie Community Board which gets a lot of traffic! When I first started posting I got a ton of likes and enthusiasm....which petered out and I spent two late afternoons knitting my little pathetic sock by myself at the big table in the library while the librarians peeked over at the weirdie. The 3rd week it was thankfully me and Kelly, two of us knitting and talking. But then Thanksgiving hit and still nothing. I put the new date up and once again got liked, but no one seemed interested. I had one woman who repeatedly kept suggesting after announcing she was not joining that it would be more cozy if it was at "someones' house". She did not volunteer her own house.  I had actually mulled that one over but the logistics of it are daunting and then we have the dogs, insurance worries, etc.... and my other reason for the library is it's in the middle of town and easy to get to. Our house is down a long raised gravel road with no guard rails and steep drop offs on sides. I have great parking at my house but then you have to pick your way through my pitch dark yard - there's a sidewalk but it tilts rather drunkenly at points, you get the idea. 

My last post I had asked if anyone was really interested at all or should I just bag it entirely? Because there are only so many times you can sad sit at the library in your Group Of One knitting. And you know what? Success! We were a group of four, five if you include Hannah but she's only 5 months old and her only knitting participation was being unwound from her mother's yarn, but we were a group! The library director even came over to welcome us, she said we only had to be quiet if someone was trying to read but otherwise we were free to talk. She was glad we were there - she was very nice. And the two hours passed quickly, it's always fun when you have a group of people you're getting to know, it's a very eclectic group. We are planning on meeting again next week and hopefully can keep it together through the holidays. But I do have to say I'm hoping my little group stays together and grows, it would be nice to have a group of knitting friends again.