Gina Solomon’s favorite crochet project is a Pooh Bear lipstick holder keychain. Pooh is just one of the many tiny characters she teaches people how to make at Moonflower Coffee’s weekly crochet club.
Starting the club was Gina’s way to build community when she moved to Denver from Los Angeles County to be closer to her daughter, Sam Solomon. The mother-daughter duo already had the perfect location in mind: the coffee shop Sam started with her husband, Jason Haygarth.
Moonflower began as a coffee cart inside a food truck concept on West Colfax, but it’s now a full-service coffee shop with a large outdoor patio and a focus on bringing people together.
“We wanted more gathering space for the community to share a skill or idea or resources,” Sam said. “I think community forms on its own anyway. We just wanted to kickstart that process.”
Now, every Tuesday at 8:30 a.m., the crochet club meets at Moonflower’s cozy couch area for creativity and conversation. “We welcome everybody, all ages and skill sets,” Gina says. “You could be beginner or advanced. We have people that knit, people that do felting.”
Gina points out a child who once saved up all of her coins to buy two crochet Pooh bears, one for herself and one for her little brother, which were available for sale in Moonflower’s small crochet shop. She’s since come back to learn how to crochet herself from some of the grown-up members of crochet club, who are happy to show her the ropes while sipping on one of Moonflower’s signature drinks.
“They get together and have great conversations,” Gina says of the club’s regular attendees. “They talk about books, music, current issues; it’s not just a place where they come to crochet. They make friends. I enjoy seeing that part.”
Moonflower Coffee will soon open for evening bar service, serving alcoholic beverages, mocktails, and a wide selection of teas. There’s talks of a nighttime crochet club and an evening offshoot of Moonflower’s Wednesday writing club.
And if another hobby is calling? Moonflower Coffee has an open invitation to start a club yourself ✨
