Davidson Knitting Group's Memorial Stitches Together Community

DAVIDSON, NC — On any given Wednesday morning, tucked in a quiet corner of a parking lot off Main Street in Davidson and around the time many are grabbing a second cup of coffee, a group of dedicated crafters meet up to sit awhile together. In their folding camp chairs arranged in a hap-hazard circle, they chat while they knit a sweater for a loved one or a shawl for their own shoulders.

While every project in their hands and on their needles is distinctive, there is a common thread among this Secret Society of Crafters: support.

Last month, Sue Younts of Davidson joined her friends in the knitting group in the parking lot outside Hearts on Fiber yarn store, like she often did on Wednesday mornings since last fall. As a part of the group, she was known to be a quiet, skilled knitter who was humble and quick to praise others.

The next day, the 64-year-old grandmother would die, just blocks away. Younts was killed crossing Main Street when she was struck by a driver in a van. The midday June 17 accident in downtown Davidson occurred at the intersections of Chairman Blake Lane and South Street, near where Cornelius resident Janet McFadden was struck and killed in 2016.

The location is now marked by an arresting, homespun memorial of hundreds of knitted and crocheted flowers and butterflies.

"When I found out about Sue, my first thought was of a yarn bomb that a customer messaged me about," flowers lining a window, Hearts on Fiber owner Kim Clark, who organized the memorial, told Patch. "I thought it was beautiful, and knew that we needed to create something in honor of Sue."

Clark put the word out and, within a week, received hundreds of handmade flowers and butterflies.

"There’s a helpless feeling that comes from loss," Clark said. "You’re trying to work out something that you can’t understand. For those who knew Sue, knitting and crocheting butterflies and flowers gave us 'something' to do. Even people who didn’t know Sue felt our loss and were happy to help with our tribute to her," she said, adding Craft Clt also donated a recent yarn bomb project.

"With every flower we made, we thought of Sue. We felt like we could do something even though it seemed so small and trivial," Clark said.

When Clark and her daughters installed the project on Main Street Sunday, more helpers emerged, to tie flowers and butterflies to the plastic fencing used as the base, or to climb a tall ladder.

"Some came for hours, others for minutes," she said. "It all helped."

Tucked among the colorful yarn is a sign with a message from Sue's husband, Bud: "Each day, tell the ones that you love that you cherish them. That's what you can do for me."

"Through grief there’s beauty," Clark said. "We’re all connected in some way. I want people to see the flowers and pause through the sadness and explore the beauty of a community coming together to honor a fellow crafter," she said.

"We go through life doing the best we can, but we never really know how much we impact others," Clark said. "I’m so glad our group was special to Sue because she was special to us."

The Secret Society of Crafters meets every Wednesday and Sunday at 10 a.m. outside Hearts on Fiber yarn store, located at 208 South Village Lane, Suite A in Davidson.

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