Article by Marcia Darnell
Local Arts – April 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
WHERE DO KNITTING, crocheting, good works, and good talk converge? The Fiber Floozies of Alamosa.
“I love the club for the gab sessions,” said Nora Gengo, who was working on a scarf for a neighbor’s daughter. “We talk about yarns and projects, and we exchange helpful hints that you don’t read in magazines.”
The group started in October 2004 with three people who got together at the library to make baby hats to donate to newborns at the hospital. Other needleworkers joined them, and they outgrew the space at the library, moved to the recreation center, then outgrew that space, and now meet at Hospice del Valle’s meeting room.
Ranging in age from 8 to 84, the group numbers about 35, with 10 to 15 members at each meeting.
At a recent meeting, the members congregated around tables arranged in a square. They chatted and created, comparing lives and projects. A book, Knitting for Peace, presided in the center of the table.
“I have such a good time,” said member Debbie Lee. “I always leave looking forward to the next meeting.”
Fiber Floozies is loosely affiliated with another group, Knit Happens, that focuses exclusively on charity projects. Their works include the aforementioned baby hats and booties, plus projects for the hospice, for veterans, and for soldiers and sailors stationed abroad.
“Somehow it seems to be cold and damp on ships,” said Claire Russell with a smile. “Imagine that.”
The club makes warm socks and slippers for the service people to wear while they sleep.
Currently, Fiber Floozies is working on a plan to make hats and booties, socks and caps, and other garments to send to Afghanistan. They recently shipped 250 hats to Tibet.
Another popular charity is Project Linus, making blankets for kids in need.
“We also work on our own projects,” said group coordinator Jan Oen. “We always seem to have Show and Tell at meetings.”
Oen said her duties are light, mostly keeping the e-list of members.
“It’s a very informal group,” she said. “There’s no structure as far as officers or bylaws or anything like that.
“It’s a loose-knit group,” she added, jokingly.
The club has no dues, and meetings are slated for the second Wednesday of every month.
At the February meeting, the group knitted and crocheted while swapping patterns, showing off projects-in-progress, and discussing charity opportunities. They shared tips on where to get special yarn, where to donate projects, and info on groups asking for donations.
Emmy Helmuth, 25, was working on a fiendishly complicated piece involving five double-sided needles. She and Claire McArdle, also mid-20s, say they started crocheting when they were kids, and picked up knitting recently. Fiber Floozies members include a mother-daughter duo and Cameron Mobbley, 8.
“I’m still learning,” Mobbley said. She was introduced to the group by her grandmother, says she likes it, and plans to keep coming.
Fiber Floozies does have a male participant, Dennis Smith. He and his wife, Wanda, knit, spin, and raise alpacas. They brought some raw materials to the meeting for others to use.
Another man became a needlework convert. Smokejumper Brad Oen, Jan’s nephew, visited her recently, accompanied her to a meeting, and was quickly taught to knit by member Pat Fluke.
“He said quite a few smokejumpers knit because they sit around between calls and need something to do,” Oen said. “He’s been stationed in Alaska the last three summers, but says he may stay in Montana this year. He still knits.”
Connie Barry has been with Fiber Floozies since last summer. “These ladies are wonderful,” she said, creating a pair of baby socks destined for Afghanistan. “So caring and giving, so eager to help you learn.”
Claire Russell was working on a shawl, one of several donated to the oncology department at the local hospital. Cancer patients are given shawls to use during treatment, which they keep, so a new supply is always needed.
Gengo says she’s been with the group “for several months.”
“You feed off other people’s energies and ideas,” she said. “Sometimes a team forms for difficult or large projects.”
“When anybody sees a need,” says Barry, “everybody jumps on it.”
“A lot of ideas come out of this group,” says Gengo.
The meeting included a screening of a DVD feature about Fiber Floozies produced by the local TV news station. With the presence of Colorado Central, one member joked, “We’re all over the media!”
“We’re going to need a press secretary,” chimed another.
And a lot more yarn.
For more information on Fiber Floozies, contact Jan Oen, 719-587-5529.
Marcia Darnell lives, writes, and knits unskillfully in the San Luis Valley.
