Back in the day, women gathered to quilt, to sew, to knit, to crochet, primarily because these were things that needed to be done. It was part of being a good wife, a good woman, to be able to create clothing, blankets, warmth in general. Now we live in a time of convenience, but while it might be easy to purchase clothes and bedding, it's harder and harder to get together with our friends.

Over the better part of the last year I've spent one Wednesday a week at a friend's house. We started out just making patchwork quilts, because that's really all we knew to do. Then we bought some simple patterns and started making pajama pants as well. When a friend requested hats for Christmas, we took a class on how to use a knitting round and now we're knitting away, scarfs and hats for all our friends.

We've even invited other friends to join us for our crafting days. And while the end product is nice, and I love being able to give my friends and family handmade blankets and scarfs, I think the real reason we get together is simply to have community. We really want other girls to join us. We treasure the time we have together.

I think in terms of my friendship with this friend, that is has brought us closer than had we just gotten together for lunch, or to the movies. When we create, we go through everything together. The frustrations with our sewing machines, the confusion at how to put patterns together so all the fabric faces right, the thought we put into creating stuff that's been specially requested, all brings us closer.

I can't wait to see what we make next year!

Labels: crafting, crafts, friendship, knitting, quilting, sewing, women