It was a Thursday. The sun was almost sunken and the cool air was whipping against my face. The sky was bright pink and orange, and you could see the moon already. I was bundled up in tow with my heavy jacket and a scarf wrapped around my face. I clicked a button on my bike's rear end red light twice. I swung my leg over my white and red bike swiftly and I set out on my short journey from my apartment on Woodland Avenue to the Funkhouser building. The meeting was in room 311. I was nervous to go. This was the third meeting I was trying to attend and I wanted it work out. The first one was the Pokemon Trainer Association, also known as PTA. That one didn't work out because I simply chickened out. The second was the MAT club, which is the Merchandising, Apparel, and Textiles Club. That one didn't work out because they didn't have the correct times posted for the meeting. At this point, I was just desperate for something to work for me. This club meeting that I was currently heading towards is a club called Crafty Cats. When I was first looking at clubs to seek out on the Student Organizations website, I was interested in Crafty Cats, but I skipped over it because a time wasn't posted on that website. If you're wondering what Craft Cats is, it's a student organization at UK composed of people that enjoy doing crafty things, such as knitting or crocheting, or anything creative in general. The goal of Crafty Cats is to help out the community while doing something they love, like crafts. They help out the community mainly by doing things for underprivilaged or sick children. I chose to go to Crafty Cats because I really love to knit, and some community service is something that my resume is lacking, so I thought I'd give it a go.

I finally kicked on my pedals and sped off to the club meeting. Once I made it to Funkhouser, somewhat out of breath, I climbed up the steep front stairs of the looming building and took the elevator to the third floor. Room 311 was to my the first door across the hall to the right of th elevator. As I walked into the room, I noticed how many were in the room. There were five ladies sitting aroud one table. Their ages seemed to range from about 18 to 21. Once I caught their attention, they all had really big smiles on their faces. I said, "Hi! I'm Chloe, I'm the one who emailed you about observing your meeting." One girl replied by introducing herself as Jennifer. She had blonde, thick and wavy hair that was held up by a black ponytail holder. She was wearing thin black framed glasses with pale, blue eyes behind them. She had a black Nike nylon pullover on and she was wearing medium wash bootcut jeans with tennis shoes.   She happily said, "Oh yeah, welcome and have a seat!" Everyone was immediately happy with having a newcomer, which I could easily understand since there were about six of them at the meeting. After Jennifer introduced herself, they all kind of went around the table and said their names. Jessica was the next to introduce herself. She was wearing a black graphic t-shirt with dark wash flare jeans and Chuck Taylors. She had wire framed glasses and long curly brown hair in a ponytail, and when she smiled, I couldn't help but notice how perfect her teeth were. The next was Emily, she waved and welcomed me excitedly. She had on a grey sweater that had fuzzy balls on it from wear. She was wearing glasses too and was very short with short brown hair. There was then Christina, who was asian with black hair and brown highlights, and she was wearing yoga pants and a zip up hoodie. The last to be introduced was Erin. She had deepset eyes with choppy short black hair and was wearing all grey sweats. She was also wearing sandal type shoes with white tube socks.
After the friendly introductions, I looked at the huge mess that was on the table. There was rice on the table. There was also an assortment of different colored and patterned felt and fabric. There was thread and sewing needles scattered around as well. I asked them what they were working on. I expected to come to the meeting and see people knitting and crocheting various clothing garments or something. Jennifer, the president, told me that they were making rice buddies. I must have looked extremely confused because she went on to explain that they are also known as hand warmers. She continued on to explain how they work and how to make them. She said that the rice buddies were little fabric bags of rice and you are supposed to pop them into the microwave for a few seconds before bed and either put them on your bed or use them for a hand warmer. To make them, you simply sew together two small pieces of fabric or felt, about the size of 3 by 3 inches, and then you fill them with rice before you completely sew them up. After you fill them, you sew up the tiny hole left and voila! You have a rice buddy to be your tiny, warm companion to help you fall asleep with sweet dreams. I then posed the question of who these rice buddies were being sent to. The group promptly started to explain that the rice buddies were being sent to the UK childrens hospital. I thought it was extremely sweet and the rice buddies would warm their hands at night, but making them would definitely warm my heart.
I was intrigued by some of the other projects they had done for the community. Jessica then told me about how for the children at the hospital, they made oragami flowers to send them, since they couldn't recive actual flowers because of the danger that germs and pollen from the outside world would bring to these already weakend children who were in sometimes critical conditions. Emily then told me that the Crafty Cats made about over 200 oragami flowers for the children, and they made serveral artificial boquets. They were quite lovely.
Almost immediately after Jessica was finished explaining, a newcomer joined us. She actually wasn't apart of the club yet, and it was her first meeting just like myself. Her name was Zhara, and she looked middle eastern. She had a lisp and was wearing marroon pants with a black peacoat. She seemed pretty shy and told us she was invited by Erin. Erin seemed ecstatic that someone she invited came to the meeting. After they were finished with talking about the serious stuff that I had asked them about Crafty Cats goals and accomplishments, the atmosphere immediately transformed into this sewing circle type of setting and mood. The girls were all very relaxed and cheery, talking about what they had done in their week and while making their little rice buddies. Erin and Emily were definitely the most talkative. Emily was actually really funny. She and Jennifer wear talking about how Emily loves knitting, but Jennifer loves crocheting, and apparently Jennifer made her own Angry Birds. When I say that she made them, I mean that she crocheted them. This to me, is extremely impressive. I was somewhat awestruck, I asked Jennifer more about it and she said that she even made her own pattern for the birds. Making a pattern in knit or crochet is not easy at all, especially for a plush toy such as Angry Birds. After Jennifer explained how cool she basically is, in my opinion, Emily suggested that she "make a real life crocheted Angry Birds obstacle game, video tape it, and put it on Youtube." I agreed that it was a brillant idea.
As the meeting went on, the group continued to tell stories and chat, and the conversation was mainly based on the notion of their crafting love. I was curious about something though, I asked the group about yarn bombing, and if they had yarn bombed the trees in front of Memorial Colossium. Yarn bombing is when a group of people, or I guess it could just be on person, knits of or crochets large pieces, and then sews it onto a tree or lamppost or something in public. I guess it's a form of vandalism, but it's really beautiful and cool and is extremely easy to take off. Going back to their reply, the told me that they wished they yarn bombed Memorial Colossium, but alas they didn't. They told me that maybe one day they would, but it couldn't be under the Craft Cats name of course, since they could get in trouble for it. They all seemed to have this fantasy of yarn bombing though, but I think every knitter or crocheter has the same fantasy; I surely do.
After an hour had passed with the Crafty Cats, and the sun had compltely set, it was time for everyone to pack up and head home. The girls bid each other a farewell and they thanked me for sharing an interest in their club, they encouraged me to invite my friends and to keep coming. I told them that I would probably be there next week. I had enjoyed myself too much to not go again. As I rode the elevator back to the first floor, I was really warmed by my interaction with the Crafty Cats and I was actually please, in a way, that I was forced to be involved in something on campus.