Local crafters meet monthly for "hooch"

In 2021, a couple of years after moving to Niwot, Hope Doty finally had met enough crafters in the area to get a group together as she missed participating in the group she had founded when she lived in Texas. She followed through on her friend Annie Enger's advice to speak with the manager of The Wheel House, who at the time happened to be a knitter as well.

The outcome was the formation of the crafting group called "Crafts and Hooch" which meets once a month, on Thursday evenings after 5:00 p.m. at The Wheel House. Thursday nights were chosen because it is usually a more quiet time where the members can chat, share some beers and show off their latest creations. Attendance can range from six to ten people but usually between six and seven crafters attend each month.

Normally the crafters bring projects that they are working on, or finished products to share. It is a diverse group that currently consists of three knitters, a digital artist who began tying fishing flies (Doty's husband, Tom Myer), a gentleman who does origami, a crocheter, and a bead worker.

Doty describes herself as an eclectic crafter. Her grandmother taught her to crochet when she was seven years old but her granny was right-handed, whereas Doty is left-handed, which made for a longer learning curve.

Subsequently she spent decades working on cross stitching, loving the complicated patterns she could make. When she returned to crocheting many years later, Doty wanted to increase her repertoire from the double-crochet stitch that her grandmother had taught her.

She found a book entitled The Crochet Bible, which had all kinds of illustrated stitches that she taught herself. Later she was introduced to filet crochet (illustrated in the accompanying photo) where she discovered that the same techniques and patterns she used in cross stitching translated to crochet.

Doty said that a full range of age groups are represented at the Crafts and Hooch meetings. Having experienced knitters provides a good resource for those who have questions or run into trouble on a project, she said.

The group is open to anyone who shares a love for crafting arts and enjoys spending time together on a monthly basis, along with a little "hooch." The next meeting time for the group will be this Thursday, Feb. 20, at "5:30ish to 8:30ish" at The Wheel House.

For more information on the group or for people interested in joining, contact Hope Doty at hopedoty@gmail.com.