As Thursday’s rain rushed down, the weathered fingers of 11 seniors were hard at work, crafting knitted handbags that will be sold at stores across the country.

The seniors, residents of The Redwoods, are the backbone of Sarah Oliver Handbags, and an integral part of why its Marin-based proprietor will be featured on Friday’s 9 p.m. episode of ABC’s “Shark Tank,” a reality show that gives business owners the chance to expand their ventures.

Sarah Oliver, 50, a Mill Valley resident, pitched her business concept and filmed the show this fall. Friday’s episode will reveal whether she will receive funding to grow her enterprise. Having signed a nondisclosure agreement, she wasn’t spilling any details Thursday.

“I was super nervous,” Oliver recalled as one of few details she provided of the experience. “Like, nervous times a million. It’s very nerve-wracking. It goes back to, even if it was just me, but I felt the weight of representing the knitters in the best light and I wanted them to be proud.”

The senior knitting group, dubbed the Purlettes+1, are Redwoods’ residents who signed on to knit for Oliver’s company. Most learned the trade decades ago when they were much younger. As they sat knitting Thursday, they expressed excitement to have their handmade clutches and handbags, each adorned with a single signature brooch, showcased on national television. The group, on Friday night, will assemble at the Mill Valley Tennis Club to discover if their business will be expanded. Many said their families, sprinkled across the country, will be tuned in.

“Maybe someday I’ll be a celebrity, who knows,” said 94-year-old Daphne Campbell, who began working for Oliver nine years ago. She learned knitting from a roommate back in her college days, she said.

Ellie Leva, 88, said the entire experience has felt like a fantasy: “It’s kind of interesting to have somebody interested in you. When you were younger, you expect it. We don’t expect anything now. We’re just living our lives and enjoying them.”

100 stores

Oliver’s business model is unique. The seniors that make up the Purlettes+1 manufacture up to 80 handbags on a weekly basis. The seniors meet with Oliver each Thursday to discuss the business and knit as a group. But the remainder of their work is conducted on their own time, often as they listen to music or watch television. They are compensated on a per-stitch basis for their work. The purses, based on designs created by Oliver, are sold at roughly 100 stores around the nation — including the home decor store, Gump’s San Francisco.

Oliver learned the art of knitting as a young girl, at roughly age seven or eight, from her mother, grandmother and great aunt. Though she ventured into the corporate world after college, she never stopped knitting and made purses for friends as holiday gifts, she said.

She was approached one day by a Colorado Springs shop owner who was interested in carrying her designs after seeing one her friends carrying one. Shortly after, a Corte Madera store owner also expressed interest. Oliver said at that moment she realized she’d need help making the bags.

“For me, the most obvious labor pool was at a retirement community where I thought I could find knitters who could help me,” Oliver said. “I live in Mill Valley and The Redwoods are pretty well known in the community.”

15 seniors involved

Six seniors at The Redwoods came onboard with Oliver’s business in 2006. There are now 15 seniors who knit with the group. Hector Richards was the first male to join the group and gave the group it’s “+1” addition. The 79-year-old, who learned to knit in the eighth grade while attending Catholic school in Connecticut, picked up the craft again five years ago after joining the group.

“I’m a 26-year prostate cancer survivor and knitting is a very calming effect on me,” Richards said. “And it keeps me balanced and I do most of my knitting when I’m watching television. I watch a lot of television, so that’s when I do most of my knitting. I don’t feel like I’m wasting time knitting.”

Gordon Anderson, 92, is the only other male knitter. He learned the skill as a way to pass time when he was 19 years old recuperating in the hospital. He now knits four days a week, earning roughly $17 per bag he manufactures, he said. Anderson said he has no qualms of tackling a hobby that’s become synonymous as a female activity.

”I don’t have any stigma about things like that,” Anderson said. “If it breaks the mold, I will.”

Expands efforts

Oliver was approached by “Shark Tank” executives to appear on the show earlier this year following a family tragedy. Her father was diagnosed with dementia late last year and following a rapid decline in health, he died in May. Oliver said with constant trips to the East Coast to visit her ailing father, her business grew neglected. But a short time later she received an email from show executives to appear on the show to pitch her business.

“At first I couldn’t even process it,” she said. “I was like, ‘What?” I didn’t even want to look at it. But then I got back and with the rest of my family and I thought, ‘Let’s see what this is about.’ That’s kind of how it happened.”

If she receives funding to expand, Oliver said her vision is to get more seniors involved in her pursuit. She recently expanded her efforts to 15 seniors in San Francisco, at the senior community, The Sequoias, and she said she’d like to continue that expansion.

“Based on what happens with “Shark Tank” and the reaction from the public, if we get a lot of orders, that’s my dreams starting to come true — to go to other retirement communities and replicate what we have here,” Oliver said. “That’s it. That’s the plan.”