All over the country, knitters are standing at the ready to finish projects for people who no longer can.
WSHU’s Ebong Udoma spoke with CT Mirror’s Ginny Monk to discuss her article, “Through ‘Loose Ends,’ CT crafters complete unfinished projects,” as part of the collaborative podcast Long Story Short. Read Ginny’s story here.
WSHU: Hello, Ginny. This is a fascinating story. How did you get into it? Are you into knitting yourself?
GM: I am into knitting. I learned when I was a kid, and I joined a knitting group when I moved to Connecticut a few years ago, and some of the ladies I knit with were telling me about this program that they'd heard of. And I looked into it, and it was Loose Ends, which is what I've written about today.
WSHU: Okay, so what is Loose Ends?
GM: So Loose Ends is a nonprofit that pairs fiber artists, so people who knit, or crochet, or sew, or embroider -- there's all kinds of different types of crafting that they they pair folks with -- and you can send an unfinished project if someone you love has passed away or is otherwise unable to finish the project, to one of their volunteers, and they'll finish the project.
WSHU: So tell us about some of the women that you talk about in this story. Let's start with Lauren Seder.
GM: Yeah, so Lauren's mom was big into sewing, knitting. She just did a lot of types of crafts. And after she passed, Lauren had another child. Each of previous grandchildren had received a quilt, and she wanted something for her son, and had this partially finished embroidery project that she sent along to someone in Loose Ends, and they're working to finish it up. It's very intricate work, so I think it'll take a bit, but it's lovely.
WSHU: Now it's pretty elaborate, and considering that the person who started it is dead, how do they know exactly what she wanted to do to get it finished?
GM: Yeah, it's a good question. This one has a pattern, so there's kind of a printed out instructions telling you what kind of stitch to use and what color thread. But some of them, to your point, don't have patterns. And then they have some more experienced crafters who they'll send it to and say, ‘Hey, can you try to figure out what they were going for with this,’ what they were working on. And the folks at the project actually told me they have a professor in Canada who studies fiber arts, and when they get a really complicated piece that they just can't figure out, they'll send it to him, just to take a look at, and then he'll find the pattern and send it along.
WSHU: Now a lot of people are familiar with Joanne's Fabrics, which was a sponsor of Loose Ends when they started, but now it's out of business. So how do they cope without their major sponsor?
GM: Yeah, so I think that's one of the things they're still sort of in flux about, because it was a major sponsor and the closure has been relatively recent. So they're kind of looking for new sponsors or donations, ways to kind of fill that gap.
WSHU: And how do they get together? They started a Facebook group, and that's pretty much how the word has gone out?
GM: So that's a lot of how the word has gotten out. Some of the folks I talked to said I heard about it from my local yarn store or my local fabric store, but you're right. A lot of it is spread through Facebook, but the way people are paired is kind of geographically. So a lot of the people I spoke with said, I sent my project to someone who lives just down the road or just a couple towns over,
WSHU: And talking about Lauren, she paired up with someone who lived nearby, right? She's from Easton, and she paired up with someone from Milford.
GM: Yes, she did. So they were able to meet, talk about her mom a little bit and talk about the project. And I think that most of the crafters I talked with really appreciate knowing a little bit about the person whose project they're finishing. They think about it while they're working, and it just, I think, helps them to know who it is they're doing it for.
WSHU: So it appears that they have a lot more volunteers than they have projects. How are they working that out?
GM: Yeah, so some volunteers will wait for a really long time to get a project. Some volunteers who have kind of specialty skills, they'll get more projects just because not a lot of people know how to do it, but yeah, there are folks who are waiting for a long time for projects, and I think they are trying to get the word out to people who might not know that they can get their loved ones projects finished. Hey, we have this nonprofit ready to help.
WSHU: And also volunteers are improving their skills by learning from others who have volunteered, right?
Yeah, they are learning, and they're trying new challenges and new things by finishing other people's work. I'm, like I said at the start, I'm a knitter, and I was watching them work on their projects, and I was, I've never done some of these stitches. I've never tried cabling in that way. So it's really interesting.
WSHU: Well, Ginny, you know, you're a housing reporter, so how does it feel doing something that you passionately care about, which is outside of your beat?
GM: Yeah, it was fun. I was kind of reporting this in the midst of the legislative session, which was a lot of policy, politics, really heavy topics. So it was nice to get to interact with people about something like knitting, something that they love, that brings them joy. And I think, you know, one of the things that makes me happy is seeing strangers willing to help one another, and this is just a perfect example of that. It makes our society feel a little less divided.
WSHU: Well, thank you so much, Ginny.
GM: Thank you.
