By Christine R. Gonzalez
Life happens while sitting around with friends. And knitting. Or crocheting, embroidering, hand quilting.
“Whoever has thread in their bag, they are welcome to join and come sit and meet other people,” says Caroline Hegwer, owner of The Noble Thread in downtown Wilmington. “Two different things bring people to a yarn shop: you have classes where people learn a skill, individually or in a group. The other is social gatherings. We have a living room with two really big couches. People come to hang out every day, but the official social times are Friday nights and Sunday afternoons.”
The social times are free and open to anyone, regardless of age or gender. For almost three years, needlework enthusiasts from 16 to 90 have been congregating at the shop to sew, talk and relax.
Books such as ‘Knit for Health and Wellness’ or ‘Knit Yourself Calm’ express the therapeutic properties of rhythmic, repetitive movements and boast aid to manage stress, depression, anxiety and even chronic pain.
A 2013 Psychology Today article noted that the repetitive movements ‘distract people from mulling over the past or fear of the future.’ It said handwork can bring down blood pressure and heart rate and help prevent stress-related illnesses.
Newer articles suggest that sewing can even stave off dementia, citing the many different parts of the brain that are engaged calling on creativity, spatial thinking and problem solving.
“It’s meditative, like bicycling or going for a walk, because your hands are engaged in a repetitive motion. With each stitch you begin to relax. A lot do say ‘this is my therapy’,” explains Hegwer, who was born in Paris.
Yarns of Wilmington owner Leslie Branch concurs.
“So many say this is their therapy and at the end of their day, maybe for just an hour, they can tune out everything else, and have a hand-made creation in the end,” she says. “That is the compelling thing about it. They keep their sewing in their car for visits to the doctor’s office or if their kids have practice. And it is cheaper than going to a psychologist.”
Branch says that there is a trend for DIY and a lot of her sewers are going back to their roots.
“My mother taught me how to sew, my great grandfather was a tailor, and my grandmother taught me how to knit. So, a lot of us have that in our backgrounds. And now my daughter who is a busy 40-year-old mother of three who teaches at Wake Forest finds time to needlepoint,” Branch says.
Though male needle workers are in the minority, Hegwer points at that it was originally man’s work to knit fishing sweaters and socks for themselves. She says males are welcome to come participate.
“Nobody checks their phone, it is over and off when they are here. They are with friends and we often refer to each other as a large family. And if someone is sick, we get together and take care of them,” Hegwer says.
She laughs when saying the Friday night group can be pretty wild and unpredictable. Expressing doubt about knitters being wild, Hegwer says, “Well you haven’t met Janice then. One night sitting in the store a gentleman came in and started talking with her, and when he left we asked ‘is that your husband’. She replied, ‘no, but he could be’. Which broke all of us out in laughter.”
The laughter is good medicine and has helped customers, now friends, through some of the most stressful, sad moments of life, such as following the loss of a loved one, or rejection from a sweetheart.
Local stores carry unique products and see a growing interest in locally hand-dyed yarns. They often carry alpaca yarns from N.C. and a specialty line from Montana alpacas at Branch’s shop.
END - Yarn
By Chris R. Gonzalez
Wrightsville Beach Magazine - December 2019
Comments