Knitting Hearts, a women’s outreach ministry of Lazybrook Baptist Church, meets the first and third Saturday of each month from 10:00 a.m. to noon at the church, 1822 W. 18th Street. There is no cost and no need to buy supplies.

Knitting Hearts met for the first time on Saturday, March 10, 2007. “This was my mama’s birthday, “said the woman who began Knitting Hearts, a sales specialist for a Houston paper company. “My mama always crocheted, sewed and did embroidery work for us when we were little, so I wanted to share this with others. It was always a comforting time. I wanted to have something for women to connect, laugh, share and pray. These arts aren’t passed on anymore so Knitting Hearts is a mixer for the generations, a way for young women and children to connect with senior adults.”

Another woman, a graphic designer and video game producer, began coming to Knitting Hearts to be with career colleagues she wouldn’t otherwise see due to career changes. Knitting Hearts gave her the opportunity to keep those friendships and make new friends. Because of her busy career, Knitting Hearts is the only time she picks up knitting needles.

The core of Knitting Hearts is community friendship and interaction in a supportive, gentle, peaceful environment. Women of all ages, from various backgrounds, come for a variety of reasons. Many women come to relax, to relieve stress and to take a break for a few hours a month from their hectic work, career and family lives. All skill – and even no skill – levels are welcome.

However, several women function as teachers for the rest of us and are very skilled at knitting, crocheting and reading patterns. They’re willing, for free, to teach both beginning and advanced skills. Over the past years, it’s common to hear women say that they have learned more at Knitting Hearts, for free and in a supportive environment, than they learned from expensive formal classes. So, many women do come to learn a specific skill, to advance a skill and to meet other women who share a common interest.

Besides being an outreach ministry to individual women, Knitting Hearts members have made baby booties and prayer shawls for people at N.W. Memorial Hospital, decorated sandals for children in other countries and hold a Christmas sale every year the proceeds of which go to One Mission Ministries in Mexico.

If you would like to relax for a few hours each month, connect with old friends and make new ones, learn or advance a skill at no cost in a quiet environment and, if you choose, take part in a group project of benefit to the community, feel free to check out Knitting Hearts. For questions, contact the church at (713) 864-1470 and a Knitting Hearts member will get back to you.