Anchorage Daily News

This week I was reminded that everyone has a different idea of the meaning of "community" and that there are all kinds of communities within the larger one. Just what makes a group of people a community?

First, it's individuals who, through their shared mission, decide to work toward the same goals. That is evident through the work that the Alaska State Yarn Council is doing. You may already know that the mission of this wonderful organization is to create an endowment for sustaining needle arts through education, scholarships and community events throughout Alaska.

ASYC is celebrating its second anniversary Thursday. ASYC has new board members, and they are reviewing policies and procedures and planning the next two years' events including a Yarn Expo in 2009 for enthusiastic needleworkers throughout Alaska. As individuals have come forward to work on these tasks, several told me they love the mission of ASYC and that they really found their community when they attended a Yarn Expo event. I was thrilled to hear this because that is exactly what the founders had hoped for.

One member of ASYC told me she didn't do any needlework until she participated in Yarn Expo III at the Captain Cook Hotel in September 2006, but that she immediately joined the Anchorage Spinners and Weavers Guild and is now an accomplished spinner, weaver and knitter. She found her community not only through the much larger ASYC but also through the guild.

The community found in a guild is a group of individuals who share a love of an activity, which in this case is needlework. Throughout the year, needlework guilds meet in Anchorage, Palmer, Wasilla and throughout Alaska to learn more about knitting, crochet, spinning, weaving, embroidery, beading, quilting sewing and more.

These smaller communities are Alaskans who enjoy sharing what they love and doing their needlework together. It reminds me of old-fashioned quilting bees where women stitched and visited while finding support from each other for their everyday struggles and joys. These women knew the value of a community, and they formed deep friendships with the people they met.

I have often spoken about the larger international community of needleworkers, and I was reminded recently that needleworkers know they can find their community wherever they travel. I received a letter from two knitters who are traveling to Alaska from Australia this fall. They visited the Web site for the Alaska State Yarn Council and contacted me to find out how to visit the knitting guilds in our area. We often only think of our guilds as smaller local groups, but in fact they are only part of a much bigger community united by what we all love.

June 14 is World Wide Knit in Public Day, the largest knitter-run event in the world. If you participated last year, you will remember how much fun it was to meet other knitters by the fountain at the Loussac Library for a chance to be part of a public demonstration of our knitting community. We were delighted to find visitors from other states and even other countries found us through the online sign-up and joined in. There were more than 200 other public knitting demonstrations all over the world that day.

Danielle Landes started World Wide Knit in Public Day in 2005 to help knitters find their community. She knows knitting can be a very solitary act and that many knitters never stop to realize that they are a part of a much larger community. Sometimes a knitter doesn't even know that her next-door neighbor also knits until they meet up in public.

However you decide to participate, you can be assured that you are a part of very large needle arts community where you will be very much at home, even when you travel.

Catherine Hollingsworth, interior designer, artist and professional knitwear designer, has lived in Alaska for 18 years. She is interim president of the Alaska State Yarn Council and past president of Knitters of the North. To reach her, e-mail twosticks@adnmail.com.

WORLD WIDE KNIT IN PUBLIC DAY, Day, sponsored by Knitters of the North Guild, will be from 3 to 5 p.m. June 14 near the fountain at Loussac Library, 3600 Denali St. Bring a blanket or folding chair. For more information call Janice Chulick at 561-3933.

groups.yahoo.com/group/ Knitters_North

One Knitter's Dream Learn more about Danielle Landes' ambition to unite knitters and needle enthusiasts.

www.wwkipday.com

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