Why I love my SnB

Written on January 22, 2011

Why I love my SnB

I used to be a lonely knitter.  I’d go to my DH’s (dear husband) musical performances at a local coffee shop toting around my latest WIP (work in progress).  Sometimes people would stop and ask what I was making, sometimes they would stop to tell me it was pretty, and sometimes they would stop to ask why in the God’s Great name I would knit.  Eventually, it did get lonely.  I can only talk to my DH about the amazingness of wool so many times before he stabs me with one of my own needles..  At work, I’m sure that people avoided me for fear that I’d make the touch my current project.  Thinking back to when I crocheted, I remember looking through the first Stitch N Bitch book and reading about actual knitting circles; groups of crafty people who would get together and were not afraid of scaring anyone away with their kookiness.  I then went to the only place I could be kooky and not care of what people thought of me, the internet.  www.Stitchnbitch.org had a list of groups organized by country and state.  There were no local groups near me; the closest one was over an hour away.  I eventually mustered up some ‘balls’(yarn pun totally there on purpose) and registered a Stitch N Bitch group on the official website and started a facebook group called Manhattan SnB.  Now, I’ve made my group open to all kinds of kooky craftiness.  I also cross-stitch, crochet, make hemp/macramé things, and I’m into beading.  There are two knitting regulars including myself, several who are new to knitting (I call them my ‘bitches’ if I’m the one who taught them to knit), a few who crochet, and a few others who do other kinds of crafts.  There is one member who tats!  Other members of the facebook group are yarn and/or fiber companies, with a few yarn stores mixed in there.  So, why am I advertising my own SnB group on my blog?  Because I love them; I love meeting new people (even though I am really shy at first), I love teaching someone to knit, I love talking about different fibers and not getting that “oh God, this chick is crazy” look.  Making friends this way has made going to fiber festivals more fun.  Heck, it’s even made going out for coffee more fun. 

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to double the amount of members on the facebook group, Manhattan SnB.  We’re currently at 25 members.  How am I going to accomplish that?  First off, my friend Angela has made a sign to put at our table when KIPing (Knitting In Public) together.  That way people know we are an ‘open to the public’ group, not just two crazy people getting coffee.  She is also working on business cards we can leave in strategic places like in the knitting books at the library, hehehe.  I have also taken on two new knitting students.  Well, it’s really more like .5 students.  One of them watched me knit and just picked it up.  I loaned her a few books and off she went.  The second student is being taught by the first student but they are both coming to me when they hit a brick wall.  So now I’m out of ideas on how to make the group bigger.  This is where I’m going to rely on my lovely darling readers, if I have any.  I’m open to any and all suggestions.  One of Angela’s suggestions was to try to knit at different places each week.  Maybe try a different coffee shop or book store, or maybe even a restaurant or bar.  Some of my other ideas are t-shirts, advertising ‘yarn shop hops’, and having a table at the farmers market in the summer.  We’ll just have to wait and see what happens, because "Knit Happens".