By Caprice Lawless | Contributing Writer
Modern life, so dominated by screens, tends to make our otherwise well-oiled friend-making skills a little rusty. Throw in a Covid epidemic and you get the loneliness epidemic currently in full swing. The good news is that simple, easy-to-learn needlework takes both hands but only partial concentration as the needleworker slowly transforms soft yarns or threads into a new creation. It’s a pastime that lends itself to conversation, because hands busy sewing absorb the nervous energy that tends to impede the ability to make the casual, personal connections we are designed to make and to maintain, as social creatures.
As I observe myself and others in the Loose Threads sessions, I’m reminded of the way my son, as a toddler, enjoyed what child development researchers call “parallel play.” Each of his peers was content to dabble in their own corner of the sandbox yet were comforted by the presence of other toddlers nearby. Maybe it’s because needleworking in groups doesn’t require as much eye-to-eye contact as conversations would otherwise. Maybe it’s all these factors combined that make the bubbly chatter feel so comforting and familiar during each Friday afternoon Loose Threads Funshop.
Sponsored by both the Concordia Neighborhood Association and the North Star Village (a senior’s social club), Loose Threads has been growing since it began last fall. It’s an adult needle crafting “funshop” (because “workshop” sounds like work) each Friday afternoon, from 1 to 4 in the Community Room at McMenamins Kennedy School (5736 NE 33rd Ave.) We off er free instructions in knitting, crochet, and embroidery for adults only.
You can bring your own insulated mug of coffee or tea from home or pick one up at the coffee shop near the front entrance of the school. We have to keep our hands clean for our sewing projects, so we eat before the sessions. We do, however, always offer Vitamin O (Oreos) to participants. There is no registration, fee, form to sign, call to make, etc. Just come down, write your first name on our 100-year-old classroom chalkboard, pull up a chair, and start needle crafting with us. If you already have an ongoing needlework project at home, you can bring it to work on whilst in the company of kindred spirits.
Stephanie Magee teaches knitting and crochet, and wears, each Friday, yet another beautiful sweater she has made. Thia Triggs teaches crochet now as well, and, like Stephanie, she often wears or brings to the sessions one of her creations. I teach free-form embroidery on felt; no embroidery hoop required. I design each week a few ready-to-complete kits for beginners (sunglass cases, mug coasters, palm-sized stuff ed animals, etc.). You are welcome to make one of those (one per participant per session).
This year, Loose Threads is coordinating with the Concordia Commons Garden Fair on Saturday, March 14th and will be offering four Concordia Creatures Plant-Pick Kits ($5 ea.) for visitors to purchase, with all proceeds going to purchase supplies for Loose Threads Funshops. The kit lineup includes four whimsical garden creatures: Sherm the Worm, Doug the Bug, Dale the Snail, and Guy the Dragonfly.
Caprice Lawless has written extensively on higher education, homesharing, technology, construction, and engineering. She moved to Oregon from Colorado in 2023, shortly after retiring from teaching college English and Journalism.