The Knitwits gathered at the Port Clinton Yacht Club on June 15 to knit together, talk together, and laugh together. Shown are, from left, Mary Gochenour, Carol Kubit, Patti Aumann, Susan Wolfe, Sarah Short, Karen Clemons, Ann Wagnitz, and Caroline Notestine. (Photo by Sheri Trusty)

BY SHERI TRUSTY

PORT CLINTON – When Patty Aumann moved to the area in 2000, she was looking for something different to do, so she took knitting lessons from Christi Soski, owner of Christi’s Just for Ewe in Marblehead. A few women started meeting regularly to knit together, and then more joined, and today, The Knitwits is a thriving group of knitters and crocheters who are stitching their way through life together and impacting the community at the same time.

“A group of us girls got together to knit, and people invited people, and it just blossomed,” Aumann said.

Mary Gochenour, left, and Susan Wolfe knit during the June 15 Knitwits meeting. (Photo by Sheri Trusty)

When the group got too big to meet in members’ homes, they moved their meetings to the Port Clinton Yacht Club. While there, they talk, laugh, and work on individual or group projects. Since the group formed, the women have created and donated hundreds of handcrafted items that bring comfort and love.

The Knitwits’ projects have included making helmet liners for overseas military personnel, hats and slippers for patients at the Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center in Sandusky, and sweaters and blankets for Knit for Kids. They make small blankets for stillborn and preemie babies through Rachel’s Gift, and they create group-knitted prayer shawls for local friends and family who are sick. Member Karen Clemons said the shawls “are like a hug shawl.”

“We use a pattern that is an inverted triangle,” Clemons said. “Everyone knits as much as they want, and then they pass it on to the next person. Everyone has a hand in it. That’s how it should be.”

Caroline Notestine was among the women knitting and crocheting at the June 15 Knitwits meeting. (Photo by Sheri Trusty)

On June 13, The Knitwits celebrated International Knit in Public Day by gathering with their yarn and needles at the Port Clinton Lighthouse. At their June 15 meeting at the Port Clinton Yacht Club, they worked on a variety of individual projects. Susan Wolfe was creating a “shawl in a ball,” Ann Wagnitz knitted rope into a footstool cover, and Carol Kubit was making slippers for a friend.

“I like making slippers when I’m with the group because they’re a plain knit. I don’t have to count stitches. I can enjoy knitting and keep talking,” Kubit said.

The Knitwits welcome those with much experience and those with little. Mary Gochenour learned to knit as a child growing up in England about 50 years ago. Sarah Short, who joined in May, is the group’s newest member. Short learned to crochet at her grandmother’s side when she was a girl, but she never did much with her craft.

Clemons, left, and Carol Kubit sort through yarn at the June 15 Knitwitz meeting. (Photo by Sheri Trusty)

“I never get around to finishing things, and this group gives me a set time to work on projects,” she said.

Short was enjoying dinner at the yacht club last spring when she saw the women knitting together.

“I came over and introduced myself, and they welcomed me with open arms,” she said.

Short enjoys being a member of the Knitwits, a group of modern women engaging in an ancient craft.

“It connects you to the past and keeps it moving forward,” she said.

The Knitwits welcome new members. For more information, contact Ann Wagnitz at annwag0@gmail.com. The character after “annwag” is a zero.