So, a couple of months ago I decided to try my hand at organizing a knitting meetup. Now don't get me wrong there is no shortage of knitting meetups in my area. There is a Hampden Knitting Meetup, Towson Knitting Meetup, and every LYS (local yarn store) has it's own knitting social gathering but the yarn shops are too far for me and I also feel bad if I go and I don't purchase any of their yarn. The other meetups are like little gangs. I went to one knitting meetup I shall not name names but I was had just started knitting and they called my WIP (work in progress) a dish rag, mind you it was a baby blanket. They also had some choice words about my red heart yarn. I have preference when it comes to yarn like any other knitter but I don't judge what yarns someone choose to use...ugh! There is an acceptable way to be a yarn snob. Let me give you the ways 1. Oogle yarns in store or online occasionally talking to the yarn and snuggling the yarn 2. Waiting for sales like a hungry lioness ready to pounce and feed your stash. 3. Sending love ones pictures and names of your favorite brands for gift ideas. 4. Using commercial yarns to practice a project before using your new beloved one. 5. Introducing your new yarn to friends as if it was a brand new baby. Notice none of those include belittling others about their yarn. Yeah, don't do that, not cool.
So for various reason I decided to get some knitters together for a good ole' fashion stitch and bitch. I have some knitting friends from my previous employment, who decided to try on knitting after seeing me knit during a company outing. At first it was me plus one other person, then it was two others, three others, then four!! We had quite a presence at work. We were called the "Knitting Gang" and then the "Knitting Bitches" which then got censored to the "Knitches." A term I think we have grown quite fond of actually. It edges us up a little a bit against the grandma connotation that everyone thinks of when thinking of knitting.
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| I'm sure this is how everyone at work saw us. |
On the contrary, we are much more like the following picture...all shits with minimal giggles. Rebels who don't follow the rules and hopes to change the systematic oppression of those who choose to knit. We aim shake up society's perception of cool, hip, and meaningful. Ok, none of that is actually true but I do think we are a really cool group who don't care what other people think. Prior to my present attempt at creating a gathering we all really haven't been together for two years. Some of us went on to different jobs, moved to different areas, and really just been caught up with our own lives.
I looked at few venue ideas Panrea Bread, Denny's, and the local arts and crafts store but I wasn't really feeling that setting. My sister recommended reserving a room at the library. They had space and time with a multiple of branches and locations to choose from so, I decided to go try that option. I sent out e-invites, purchased some sandwiches and drinks...what else could you need for a fun knitting meetup? We had a good time there was a lot of catching up and some knitting. We made plans for the next knitting meetup and even decided on doing a KAL. We shall see how that goes... All in all it was pretty successful. The second meetup was more people, we welcomed 3 more crafters to the group including a crocheter. This time a lot more knitting and crocheting took place and we also brought desserts to snack on, I highly recommend sweets for your meetups. I don't know what took me so long to organize a meet up but so far I am having a blast and will continue to host one for as long as I can.
We do have a little sisterhood going on, almost like a Kate Jacobs novel.We shall see what adventures and misadventures our sisterhood will encounter. Stay tuned till next time.
Knitch001 out!
-Paige
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