ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – It’s a new way to help animals in need at the shelter, while also working on your crafting skills, and now a local knitting group is getting involved.
Every Tuesday for over a decade, the Knit ‘n’ Nosh women have met at Flying Star on Paseo. “We sit and knit and talk and order food and drinks and have a wonderful time,” said member Linda Penaloza.
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Tucked in a corner, the group of more than a dozen women put their fingers to work knitting everything you can imagine, from blankets to scarves and mittens. “We knit for ourselves about half the time, then we’re knitting for friends and family,” said Penaloza.
Now, they are adding a new customer to their list, shelter animals at Albuquerque Animal Welfare. “This is a unique program that we just recently thought of, it’s really going to help people get more involved in animal welfare that can’t always do the dog walking or the fostering,” said ABQ Animal Welfare Director, Carolyn Ortega.
The shelter is asking the community to get crafty by creating items for the pets in their care to make life a little brighter. It’s something Penaloza said they are eager to do. “We’re all animal people, we love all of our animals, pretty much all of our animals are rescue animals,” said Penaloza.
Penaloza said while they are all experienced knitters, they’ve never worked on items of this size before. Using patterns and guides, they are now ready to add their own flair.
Penaloza hopes inexperienced knitters will step up and lend a hand. “Even a simple bit of fabric is gonna make an animal feel warmer, it’s gonna make them feel love,d they are going to smell the human that is behind that and they are going to realize they are not alone,” said Penaloza.
“There will be plenty of ideas, and it can be done not just as an individual, but it can be a family project, it can be done by kids in the schools,” said Ortega.
Click here for patterns and how to get involved.
