MONROE - Seated around a large table by a sunny window at Perk's Coffee Cafe Thursday, Carol Hasse, Eunice Brennan and Audrey Hein nimbly worked their knitting needles creating dishcloths.
Hasse, Brennan and Hein are just three of a group women who are meeting weekly for coffee, conversation and to work on a contribution of 500 dishcloths to the Monroe Women's Club 2010 Christmas Stocking Fund food boxes.
"I'm a numbers person," Hein said. "I figured out we'd be done by Aug. 5, if we make 15 a week - we're averaging more than 15."
As of last week, they reached over half their goal.
Members of the group are knitting wherever they are.
"This has taken over my knitting time," Hein said.
Hasse listens to books on tape while she knits.
"It keeps you awake," Brennan said, who picks up her knitting while watching television.
She said dishcloths are easy to make, and she can knit one "practically" without thinking.
"It's sort of stress-free," she said. "You're not worried about gauge, or will it fit the person you're knitting it for."
Hasse, whom Brennan calls the 'instigator" of the group, saw the idea for a knitting group in Madison.
"It looked like fun, (but) the one around here met in the evening, which didn't work for us," she said.
Hein, who once owned the Elegant Needle in Monroe, obtained access to a cache of thin cotton yarn in a variety of colors.
"I took a class to learn how to triple the strands," she said. "Because it was cotton, I thought it would make nice dishcloths. But I didn't think I needed that many dishcloths."
She contacted Jennifer Spielman about putting one in each of the Women's Club Christmas boxes. That's when she found out the group would need 500 dishcloths.
Hasse, Brennan and Hein, now retired from their medical and health care careers, learned to knit years ago.
Hasse asked her high school home economics teacher to show her how it was done.
Hein's teacher taught students during World Ware II to knit squares, which she then sewed together into blankets and sent to soldiers.
Brennan learned to knit from a book. She also learned to spin, after her son brought home a spinning wheel from New Zealand for her.
"They all had visions of the things I would be spinning for them - never happened," she said, with a laugh.
Hasse, Brennan and Hein are just three of a group women who are meeting weekly for coffee, conversation and to work on a contribution of 500 dishcloths to the Monroe Women's Club 2010 Christmas Stocking Fund food boxes.
"I'm a numbers person," Hein said. "I figured out we'd be done by Aug. 5, if we make 15 a week - we're averaging more than 15."
As of last week, they reached over half their goal.
Members of the group are knitting wherever they are.
"This has taken over my knitting time," Hein said.
Hasse listens to books on tape while she knits.
"It keeps you awake," Brennan said, who picks up her knitting while watching television.
She said dishcloths are easy to make, and she can knit one "practically" without thinking.
"It's sort of stress-free," she said. "You're not worried about gauge, or will it fit the person you're knitting it for."
Hasse, whom Brennan calls the 'instigator" of the group, saw the idea for a knitting group in Madison.
"It looked like fun, (but) the one around here met in the evening, which didn't work for us," she said.
Hein, who once owned the Elegant Needle in Monroe, obtained access to a cache of thin cotton yarn in a variety of colors.
"I took a class to learn how to triple the strands," she said. "Because it was cotton, I thought it would make nice dishcloths. But I didn't think I needed that many dishcloths."
She contacted Jennifer Spielman about putting one in each of the Women's Club Christmas boxes. That's when she found out the group would need 500 dishcloths.
Hasse, Brennan and Hein, now retired from their medical and health care careers, learned to knit years ago.
Hasse asked her high school home economics teacher to show her how it was done.
Hein's teacher taught students during World Ware II to knit squares, which she then sewed together into blankets and sent to soldiers.
Brennan learned to knit from a book. She also learned to spin, after her son brought home a spinning wheel from New Zealand for her.
"They all had visions of the things I would be spinning for them - never happened," she said, with a laugh.