personalized baby blanket: Crochet and Knitters Group in Eddyville just the right fit

By LORI FAYBIK, Courier correspondent


EDDYVILLE — Some ladies come to work on that extra special Christmas present for a loved one, while others may be working on a personalized baby blanket for a charity.

Whether you want to learn a new skill or just need a little help finishing up a complex knitted sweater, the Crochet and Knitters Group in Eddyville and Oskaloosa may be just the place for you.

Mostly it is just a chance to get away from it all and visit with other ladies while working at a productive hobby.

“It is just a good gathering of women” Bellina Buban says. “It is like in the old days when they used to have quilting bees, only we like yarn.”

Buban, who has a real passion for her hobby, started the Crochet and Knitters Group in Oskaloosa over a year ago. The group has grown and recently expanded to a second group in Eddyville.

“It is really big on the east and west coasts,” Buban says. “Groups are a popular trend for women who like to knit and crochet. These groups are just popping up all over. It is fun.”

Dot Maudlin of Eddyville suggested the second group because she couldn’t make it to the Oskaloosa one on Thursdays.

“I taught myself to knit, and I want to learn to do it better," she says.

At a recent meeting of the group in Eddyville, Maudlin was working on blankets for Precious Angels of Centerville, providing for premature or stillborn infants.

Buban adds that prayer shawls are a big thing right now. The ladies pray and think pleasant thoughts about a widow, cancer patient or someone else in need as they knit shawls for them.

“We teach you the basics and offer help in finding supplies,” Buban says. “Everyone makes a wash cloth to start and then jumps into socks. It is a wonderful sense of accomplishment.

“We have grandmothers who come in who want to learn to knit a baby blanket for a grandbaby,” she says.

The group is open to all ages. In the olden days, even children knew how to knit, because everyone had to mend their own socks, Buban says. They used to use red for mending. That is why you see the old fashioned gray socks with a red heel.

The group — which can be as large as 35 at times — is good about encouraging each other with their hobby.

At a recent meeting, one woman was a tad frustrated with something she had made and said it would just have to be doll clothes for her grandchildren.