Knitting morning

The plan was to get a bunch of women together once a month to knit, sew, quilt,

crochet, and talk.  This Saturday it was in my house, and it was great!  Between the

three knitters, we taught Irene, Eileen, Patty, Nora, and Natalie how to knit, all of

them left with a swatch except Nora, whose swatch was big enough to be called a coaster with nearly perfect garter stitch.  I have to host this more often because the bounty of things left behind was pretty impressive, finder's keepers!

Now here's the dilemma.  Someone suggested that we should be a ministry knitting group doing stuff for charity.  Our founder, the lovely Rox, thinks otherwise and I agree with her.  We're making a place to knit and snack and relax and chat, to build relationships and not get stressed out about lack of productivity.  The group is more about being an environment than being a ministry.  If anyone wants to knit for charity, yay for them and you can do it at the group, but that's not our focus.  My hope is that it would be a place you could bring friends to, Christian or not, and that they would be comfortable.  Does everything have to be a ministry?  Can't you let your hair down and eat marshmallows once in a while?

I think what I'm opposed to is the structure that would be imposed on something that's currently free form.  I love the idea of prayer shawls though, knit while praying for the recipient, though in my case it was prayer socks for my friend who moved away.  Half of the reason I made them was because I missed her terribly and working on the socks meant she was still here in a way.  Knowing that it's getting cool enough for her to wear them is a comfort too.  But that was a personal choice.  Ministry knitting just doesn't sit well with me right now.  What do you think?