Sat Nov 07 2009
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Frankfort Face: Martha Flynn
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College graduation, marriage, her first teaching job, learning to knit " 1960 was a big year for Martha Flynn.
It's the knitting that's helped define Martha, 70.
She's a member of three different knitting groups in Franklin County and a fourth in Louisville. She's stitched scarves, blankets, sweaters and countless other items.
Her days are filled with projects, whether it's with a group or solo.
She's a member of "Tuesday Friends" at Christ Lutheran Church in Louisville where they knit quilts for Hospice and dialysis patients. Mondays once a month she attends Charity Chix with Stix at Thorn Hill Education Center to knit hats and mittens for children in Franklin County. On Thursdays she spends three hours knitting with Hope Lutheran Church in Frankfort.
And she's a member of Franklin County's Knitting Guild which also meets at Thorn Hill.
Picking up her needles
As a home economics teacher just starting her career in Ohio 49 years ago, Martha was assigned to teach high school students basic life skills, including knitting.
Except at that time, Martha, didn't know how to knit.
So on the last few days of summer, which happened to be the last few days of her honeymoon, she joined her husband, Pat, who was serving as chaplain at a summer camp, and took to mastering the knit and purl steps of knotting yarn into patterns.
"I sat on a cot and taught myself to knit. That was the beginning."
Martha said at first she kept her skills just a few days ahead of her students. She taught knitting for two years, but was hooked after her teaching ended.
"I just did it for family mostly."
Martha and Pat raised sons, who didn't have much desire to pick up their mother's talent. But Martha said she's taught her granddaughter and her husband how to knit.
She said Pat picked up needles and yarn while sitting in the waiting room when his mother was in an intensive care unit in 1993.
Martha said the two spend evenings at home working on projects.
"Our favorite family activity is to put in an audio book and knit," she said.
Sharing her creations
Over four decades her knitting has spread from family to others across the world.
"I tend to have a variety of projects going on," she said. "I do different projects depending on the need."
She makes hats for Charity Chix with Stix to donate to resource centers at schools in Franklin County. She makes red scarves to donate to children in the foster care system, bandages to go to Africa and helmet liners for the military.
Martha knits for family, friends and any charitable cause that crosses her path.
She's only sold her creations once. It was a sweater vest to a friend and it wasn't a good feeling.
"It just did not feel right." She'd rather give away the items she makes.
Her thoughts are always focused on the person who will wear her creation " even when she doesn't know them.
"It just feels good to make something and imagine who might be using it. As you're doing this (knitting) you've got thoughts and prayers that go into this project."
She's completed so many, there's no telling how much of her work is floating around keeping hands, necks or babies warm.
"I'd rather knit than keep track."
Anytime, any place
Martha said there are qualities all knitters share.
They all have a project they haven't finished. They all have a yarn stash " Martha's includes a rainbow of colors and plethora of textures including yarn made from plastic bottles. They need people to knit for. They can't pass up a yarn shop.
"And if we go in, we'll buy something."
Martha uses basic knitting needles although there are a variety available including those made of bamboo. Some light up.
Knitting is different from crocheting " a one-hook craft " because it uses two needles. Martha said she prefers knitting, which can require up to five needles at a time.
She said she's got three essentials when she walks out the door of her house " her pocketbook, a snack and a knitting project.
"We'll knit any time, any place," she said of knitters.
Although, Martha won't knit during a church service and she says she's yet to figure out a way to knit in the bathtub.
Stitching together
"I'm good at making things but not getting them to people who can use them," she says.
That's where her groups come in. They help distribute Martha's creations.
She said there're numerous groups in Franklin County devoted to the art " and anyone no matter age, gender or skill level " is welcome.
Members of the groups help each other overcome errors as well as share patterns, tools and techniques.
"We all make mistakes," she said. "We have a good time sharing goofs (at meetings)."
At Charity Chix with Stix, Martha is among a dozen or so passionate knitters. While she is among the most experienced in the group, she doesn't want the spotlight.
"Sometimes people need recognition after they've spent their life doing nice things for others," Patty Thomas, a Chix knitter, reassured Martha at a recent meeting of the group.
Reba Scott, leader of the Chix group, said the first thing a new knitter learns after the basics is how to correct his or her mistakes. No one has ever had a heart attack or sparked a world war by dropping a stitch, she says.
"We're all knitters in progress," Martha says. "I don't care how long you've been knitting."
Four cornerstones
Martha said there are four cornerstones to her life " church, family, gardening in the summer and knitting in the winter.
"It depends on the season, how I'm feeling," she said of her projects. "If I had a really rotten day I'll sit and make hats."
She said knitting teaches patience and keeps idle hands busy; it's also a great conversation starter " any time she brings a project in public she gets questions about what she's working on.
Martha said knitting is a lot like life " both are full of kinks and knots that you've got to work out.
"I just like having something in my hands to do," she said.
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