Nine-year-old Lyta Gallant puts her knitting before her chocolate brownie. And she loves chocolate brownies.
Lyta, a student at Hammond Elementary School, learned to knit at the 100th meeting of Columbia Sip and Knit, an open-invitation knitting club for beginners and pros alike.
But surrounding her weren't the usual suspects.
There's Dorothy, the library science teacher, Maura, the engineer, and Adrienne, the construction project engineer who comes to the meetings so she can talk to women.
There's Liz, the horseback rider and runner, and Lynn, who can knit and ride on the back of her husband's motorcycle at the same time. Professionals, doctoral students, moms, store owners and businesswomen. One has been knitting for 59 years, and one has been knitting for five minutes.
The group held its 100th meeting last week at Panera Bread in Columbia's Dobbin Center, with more than 30 members in attendance. The group meets at 7 p.m. every Wednesday, and the best part is that there are no dues, no committees to join and no requirements to show up each week, said Lynn Zwerling, the group's organizer.
Zwerling, of Columbia, found herself very distressed during the October 2002 sniper attacks, and decided that she needed to pick up a hobby to keep her mind off the news. Her mother, Pearl, was a great knitter but always told her daughter to go outside and play, Zwerling said. Years later, and for a very different reason, Zwerling went on the Internet and learned how to knit.
"I was really upset, and I was just fixating on it and fixating on it," she said. "Knitting was just so relaxing, and it really took my mind off the whole situation."
And then the concept grew in a most unexpected way. It was not by word of mouth or fliers or phone calls. It was, once again, online. Zwerling said she believes that the Internet is geared toward women.
In fall 2006, Zwerling considered using Facebook and MySpace to promote the knitting group before landing on Meetup.com, a social networking Web site where members can search for groups by interest. She created a page for Columbia Sip and Knit, which has grown to 168 members.
Leigh Spearman, 28 and a graduate of Wilde Lake High School, attended the group's first meeting in October 2006. She joined because she was trying to quit smoking, and she knew she couldn't go to the bars with friends and kick the habit at the same time.
