Library was knitters’ pick – by Rebecca Jefferis Williamson

It was World Wide Knit in Public Day on June 9 and a por­tion of that world included the Alpine Branch Library on Al­pine Boulevard.

Around the world knitters pulled out their needles and cre­ated baby booties, scarves, blan­kets, women’s wear, and more.

“This is the first one that we’re doing, the first World Wide Knit in Public Day,” said Debbie Sweeney, of Alpine.

It was World Wide Knit in Public Day on June 9 and a por­tion of that world included the Alpine Branch Library on Al­pine Boulevard.

Around the world knitters pulled out their needles and cre­ated baby booties, scarves, blan­kets, women’s wear, and more.

“This is the first one that we’re doing, the first World Wide Knit in Public Day,” said Debbie Sweeney, of Alpine.

“We are a loose group of peo­ple that want to raise the aware­ness of knitting and crocheting skills,” Sweeney added. “Today, we have seven of us, maybe more later.”

The group of knitters was formed from Crochet Corner, which meets in the library on Wednesdays from 3 – 5 p.m.

Participating regions include Ocean Pacific, Europe, Ameri­ca, Asia, and Africa. The day is sometimes known by its acro­nym, WWKIPDAY.

According to the WWKIP­DAY Facebook page, knitters knit in town squares, benches, and other public areas.

The history of knitting goes back hundreds of years. Knit­ters are even portrayed in histor­ical paintings such as William- Adolphe Bouguereau’s “The Knitting Girl” painted in 1869. The American Red Cross held a campaign “Our Boys Need Sox – Knit your Bit” which many WWII veterans may remember.

The Alpine participants sat behind tables in the libraries’ entry way with balls of yarn, needles, and finished products while they worked on current projects. Cell phones were quickly pulled out to display photos of former projects for visitors. A book, Knitologie, by Lucy Main Tweet, was displayed for the curious.

The mid-day shift of knit­ters were Kathy Kerrigan, Pat Worthing, Marcia Ciabair, Peg­gy MacDonald, Loretta Sconce and Sweeney.

“I met the sheep,” said Peggy MacDonald, “I went to farms in Scotland and Ireland.”

MacDonald picks up yarn even on vacation.

“If you want to join the group on Wednesdays, and you don’t know how to knit, “said Swee­ney, “We’ll teach you. We have surpluses in the back.”