Recently, I was reading a message on Ravelry from someone who had recently moved into the Annapolis area and wanted to find a group to spin with. She had several responses but all of them were invitations to join groups that were an hour's drive away or more. Annapolis has a great quilting guild and an active rug hooking guild. I've heard that there are also chapters of the national knitting and weavers' guilds--could it be that there isn't a spinning group?
Having enjoyed my own knitting groups, I decided to do something about it. I immediately got on the phone, called one of the libraries near Annapolis, and reserved a room for the following month. I started posting information on Ravelry and hoped for the best.
On appointed day, I left home with much trepidation. Who would come? Would I sit in the meeting room all day, spinning alone?
I got to the library a few minutes later than I had planned and when I made my way to the meeting room, I heard voices. Inside, there were two young ladies, all set up, spinning and chatting away! After I got there, two more showed up...and then another. I was so excited, I could hardly breathe.
All of the ladies there were what I have found to be typical spinners--warm, open and eager to share what they knew. One of the ladies was even so generous that she brought an extra spinning wheel, a spindle, and fiber to share. When a young knitter came in who had never spun before, she was invited to sit down and try her hand. One of the members of my hometown group also came with a borrowed wheel and I worked with her to get her started.
Throughout the day, we got to know each other, chatted about our spinning, our families and our lives. As our time ended, I asked them if they'd be interested in meeting again and everyone seemed eager to do so on a monthly basis. The drive home was a little longer than planned due to beach-bound traffic on the Bay Bridge but I hardly noticed. I smiled all the way home, thinking, "I have a spinning group!"
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