September 16, 2024 By Linden Ponds
“My mother taught me how to knit as a young girl,” says Anita MacKinnon. “It’s something I’ve always enjoyed.”
And since her 2018 move to Linden Ponds, the Erickson Senior Living community in Hingham, Mass. she’s been enjoying her hobby more than ever before!
In addition to sharing her needlework talents, Anita has gained plenty of free time to participate in numerous clubs, volunteer at a local museum, and travel to workshops with friends.
“Now, not only do we spend our time knitting, but also enjoying the community together,” she says.
Friends to neighbors
“I began knitting in earnest as I traveled back and forth on the train to attend the New England Conservatory of Music,” recalls Anita. “It was the 1950s and everyone on the train was knitting.”
In 1993, Anita cofounded the Greater Boston Knitting Guild. What began as a group of 17 blossomed into one of the largest knitting guilds in the country.
“We have members from all over New England,” she says.
During her 30-plus years with the guild, Anita has made many close friends. And over the past two years, she’s been happy to have three of them–Celia “CC” Fitzgerald, Peggy Dixon, and Libby Whitman–join her at Linden Ponds.
“Seeing how happy I am at Linden Ponds helped my friends make the decision to move here too,” she says.
Expanding horizons
A few years ago, Anita and her friends formed a smaller, in-person group called Knitting Friends, which embarks on a variety of knitting-inspired trips across New England.
“We recently planned a two-day trip to Harrisville Designs in New Hampshire for a workshop and a trip to the Berkshires for a workshop and lunch at Colorful Stitches with Bruce Weinstein, a well-known knitting designer and famous chef,” she says.
Anita loves to plan cross-country travels as well, often with fellow knitters.
“CC and I recently visited Norway for three weeks on a mail boat, traveling up to the North Pole and back with two Norwegian knitting designers,” she says.
“In November, we will take a Rhine River cruise with the former editor of Vogue Knitting Magazine. We travel all over the U.S. and Canada for knitting.”
She adds, “Each January, I attend the Vogue Knitting extravaganza in New York City. [It is] the largest knitting convention in the world–held in Times Square–featuring four days of classes, workshops, parties, fashion shows, with an amazing yard market with yarn from all over the world.”
Following her adventures, Anita will return home to Linden Ponds and share new techniques and skills–and lots of yarn–with her neighbors.
Knitting together
Anita, CC, Peggy, and Libby are also members of the Plimoth Knitters at the Plimoth Patuxet Museum (formerly known as Plimoth Plantation) in Plymouth, Mass.
“The museum needed people to help in the clothing and textile department,” she says. “We began researching the patterns and knitting and testing them to make them easier to make. Now, we knit all of the knitted articles of clothing that the English interpreters wear at the museum, as well as those on the Mayflower.”
They knit in the museum’s craft center on the first Wednesday of every month from April to November. Currently, the women are working on several new knitting projects, including tall hats, coifs (the little cap that women wear under their big hat), and sleeves.
“We enjoy the opportunity to talk with visitors from all over the world and many, many schoolchildren,” says Anita.
Captured in color
Following their research for the museum, the women wrote a book titled Knitted Garb–a workbook filled with beautiful color pictures and instructions for knitting the articles of clothing worn at the museum.
“The book is sold at the museum and other historical museums in the area,” says Anita. “It is now in its fifth printing!”
When the museum closes for the winter, the group uses the time to mend items and begin new projects. This past March, the knitters visited Linden Ponds for a day of knitting and fellowship.
“It was a fun opportunity to show off Linden Ponds,” says Anita. “We met in the morning for coffee at the Harbor Cafe. We then worked on our projects and ended our day with lunch in the Acorn Pub.”
She concludes, “I enjoy life here so much. My six children also think that Linden Ponds is a fabulous place for me. I feel very grateful and happy–and I’m always ready to knit!”
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