Crafting a Life: Crafting in Public

crossposted at BlogHer
With the weather warming up and days getting longer, we can anticipate more occasions to take our crafting outside and create in the great outdoors. Casual evenings of drinks on a patio with a simple stitching project in our lap, picnics in the park. Then there are organized public crafting events that occur each year:


STITCH N' PITCH



Stitch N' Pitch will again be held in major and minor league stadiums around North America. If you've never heard of this event before...

Stitch N' Pitch brings together two wonderful traditions — Baseball and the NeedleArts. Come to a ball game and knit, crochet, embroider, cross-stitch and needlepoint. Sit among friends, family and colleagues and cheer on your favorite Baseball Team. Beginners, intermediate and experts are all welcome.

Stitchers who love baseball, knitters who don't have a clue about baseball, stitchers who love being together in a crowd, they all come out for local Stitch and Pitch games. What I love are the projects created to wear at the baseball park. Be sure to check out the photos that accompany the following blogs.

What bloggers wrote about last year:

Life in Cleveland: Believe me when I say there were knitters everywhere. And nothing’s more fun than that!

Stitches of Heritage: For stitchers, it's a great night to grab your project and head to the stadium for a night of stitching & fellowship. And what a long night it was........ the game went into 14 (yes - fourteen) innings! I brought along a knitting project but the goodie bags were full of great cross stitch freebies too!

knitting daily:

I'm not much of a sports person (most of you have figured this out by now!). But I have gone with friends to sports events, because being with lots of people,watching men and women run around after small objects, eating junk food (I ADORE hot dogs), shouting yourself hoarse when someone makes a point(or a goal, or a home run) is really a lot of fun even if you have no clue what is
really going on.

However, baseball has been a special challenge to me. To the uninitiated (thatwould be me), the game is a
bit...well...slow. The first few baseballgames I went to, I was--I shall tell the truth, even if it makes the commenters explode at me--bored. The home runs were exciting, and the SMACK of the bat hitting the ball is a great sound when you're actually in the ballpark, but all that time in between...I kept thinking, "I
could be knitting. I wish I had brought my knitting." Those first few games, I would come home feeling as though hours of perfectly good knitting time had been wasted, because of course, I was too shy to bring my knitting to a sports event in a ballpark full of rabid fans.

Thank goodness those days of being too shy to bring my knitting out of the house areat an end.

Panopticon:

Knitting has taken me many places I never expected to go, but none more unexpected than a baseball field. Yup, I went to Stitch 'n' Pitch Chicago last night. I said I wouldn't and I truly believed I wouldn't. But at the last minute there was ticket, and the weather was good, and there was the prospect of An Evening with Knitters. So I went.

You remember Eleanor Roosevelt's line about how you should do something every day that scares you? The game was my Scary Thing for yesterday.

A Year of Stitches: The best thing about Stitch 'N' Pitch night is that it brings together two things I love. Baseball and yarn.

WORLD WIDE KNIT IN PUBLIC WEEKEND:

In previous years, there has been a WWKIP day held the 2nd Saturday in June. This year, to make Knit in Public easier for all to schedule, the event is being held over the entire weekend.

World Wide Knit in Public Weekend allows for:

a specific day to get out of your house and go to a local event (with your knitting in tow) just for you and people like you. Who knows you might even bump into your neighbor! Consider this a spark, to ignite a fire; getting all of the closeted knitters out into fresh air.

WWKiP Day is unique, in that it's the largest knitter run event in the world. Each local event is put together by a volunteer or a group of volunteers. They each organize an event because they want to, not because they have to. They bring their own fresh ideas into planning where the event should be held, and what people would like to do.

What bloggers wrote about last year:

SpeedyNeedleFreeman: it was rad to have so many public knitters, i mean most of us are not ashamed, or all of us are not ashamed to be knitters, and knit in public all the time without thinking about it. it was wonderful to be part of such a public display of unashamedness. for most i don't think it is poltical, but when you get a group together (there were about 60 of us there), it becomes political. si se puede!!!

Lorrie Knits And Sews: World Wide Knit in Public Day was also my daughter's wedding day. Yes I knit, when not busy celebrating.

Furry with Ruffles:You would all be aware (if not, go out and slap yourselves soundly now please) of World Wide Knit in Public Day (WWKIP) on Saturday June 14th. Perth had a very satisfactory turnout due to my constant prodding I suspect as well as some great kindnesses on the part of the weather gods. Indeed it was so warm that sunburn was a serious risk for those of us who spent the large part of the day in residence.

Strings and Sealing Wax: I did manage to make it to our local WWKIP '08 event on Saturday June 14 with my Ravelry group. We did a great deal of chatting while knitting, as usual. We sat on the benches in the courtyard, shaded by the trees, listening to the splashing water and every now and then feeling a bit of the mist blown by the wind off the fountain. It was truly lovely.

Other crafters seek out opportunities to craft in public:

Whatever James: In Stitches:

Somehow the man cross stitching and the neck tattoo and wanting to relieve stress led to the conclusion that I had been in the klink. And that was emotional for me because how many people think the same thing and don't ask? I have been called many things by the uneducated and mostly unwashed masses. I've had trash thrown at me because they think a guy with an embroidery hoop can't start some shit.But as equally important are the conversations my working in public has started, the compliments and oohs and awwws I have gotten at my work, and the friends that I have made because of it.

My Love Is: My personal faves are knitting, crocheting or embroidering outside - easily transportable...... I love the feeling of calm that I get crafting outside with the sun on my face......

The City of Crochet:And last but not least, some crafting progress is being made! Lookee! I have 2 finshed dishcloths that flew off my hooks in no time at all, and the Crafting in Public shot...I pulled out my purse dishcloth and was working on that while having a beer and people watching at the Irish Pub next to the Bourse (Belgian Stock Exchange building)

Or NOT:

Crafty Goat's Notes:

It's not that I don't enjoy crafty get-togethers. I love being around other creatives, watching their process and absorbing their conversations. But I just don't create well in that situation. Maybe it's performance anxiety. Maybe it's perfectionism. For whatever reason, though, I prefer to do my creating in my own comfy little craft room, where I can really dig into a project and do it just right.

So is this just me? I'm curious what the rest of you think of crafting in public...?

I'm curious, too. How do you feel about crafting in public?

Debra Roby blogs her creative life at A Stitch in Time and her journey to fitness at Weight for Deb.


I also blog at: Weight for Deb and BlogHer on Wednesdays and Saturdays.