Stitch 'n' Bitch party of one? I hope not!

September 25, 2009 10:45 AM

Can a novice in Boston turn casual crafting into a social outlet?

Growing up, I was never very crafty and never really hung out with anyone who was, so even though I'm not especially shy or introverted, crafting has always been a solitary activity for me. While I'm probably most in need of a crafty Obi-Wan to mentor my clueless self, what I'd really like some company to keep me from feeling like a crafty hermit. Is there somewhere in Boston/Cambridge where I can meet other crafters who won't snicker at my newbie attempts?

I'm not really looking to become a hardcore crafter, but it seemed like a good way to meet more female friends to balance out all the geeky science guy-types I tend to hang with. (I'm a non-science girl.) I guess age is something of a factor, since I don't fall into the grandmother or even mom bracket, but I'm probably also getting a little too old to hang with the high school kids or even undergraduates. Is there even a crafting niche for clueless 20-somethings? Online communities like Craftster have been great, but I suspect I spend too much time on the computer as it is, and creating a Meetup group when I'm the clueless one seems a little weird.

Crafting cred: My non-English speaking grandmother taught me the basics of crochet when I was very young, but the language barrier made it hard to get any more complicated. Attempts to teach myself knitting have generally been pretty tragic, but I recently picked up embroidery, which has been fun, but I'm still very much a noob. I don't have a sewing machine, and scrapbooking kinda scares me.

posted by Diagonalize to sports, hobbies, & recreation (9 answers total)

Head over to Stitch n' Bitch Boston! Not sure about the Boston iteration but in L.A. we range from about 20-70 years old with the average age around 35ish. We also range from super novice to speed knitters and I imagine Boston is the same!

Hope you find your peeps.
posted by Sophie1 at 10:52 AM on September 25, 2009

You definitely can use Craftster to create a crafty group IRL. This thread might be a great place to start, or offer to "host" a meetup, either at your place or a coffeeshop.
posted by runningwithscissors at 10:57 AM on September 25, 2009

I have seen a knitting group meeting in the basement of the Brookline Booksmith, but since I am not a knitter, I have no more details.

Maybe enough people will show up in this thread to be able to start our own Boston clueless 20-something crafting group!
posted by nonane at 11:16 AM on September 25, 2009

There's probably already a meetup group for your craft, and even if not, no one would think it was all that weird if someone new to the crafting world started one up. As long as you're not advertising it as you giving lessons, but just as a stitch-n-bitch type thing, no one will likely even notice that you're a n00b.

And every crafting community I've ever joined has been incredibly supportive of newcomers, willing to help with problems and offer suggestions. It's the nature of crafting, I think.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:33 AM on September 25, 2009

Are you on Ravelry? There's a forum for Boston area knitters/crocheters, including meetups. Not sure about other crafts, though if you find anything let me know as I'm a crafty dabbler myself.

There's a weekly knit night in Somerville that I attend and the people there are really friendly and low-key. MeMail me if you're interested.
posted by Metroid Baby at 11:50 AM on September 25, 2009

You can try posting a sign at your local library branch. At mine there's even a reading/knitting group that reads a book each month and knits while they discuss the book.
posted by cocoagirl at 12:28 PM on September 25, 2009

These are great suggestions! I feel a little dumb for not finding that Craftster link on my own, and I'm now a brand-new member of Ravelry, although I'm still a lousy knitter and mediocre crocheter at best.

It always feels like crafting trends come in waves, and I'm always behind the times. Scrapbooking seems huge right now, while embroidery has very little interest. I'm still getting used to cold weather after a lifetime of California "winters", so learning to knit would probably be a useful skill, I just have to convince my fingers to cooperate.
posted by Diagonalize at 1:13 PM on September 25, 2009

Oh, and if any Boston-area folks reading care to hang out with my clueless self, feel free to memail me. I'm not sure how large the Boston-centric crafty presence on MeFi is, but if there's enough interest, I'm happy to organize something.
posted by Diagonalize at 1:22 PM on September 25, 2009

Seconding Ravelry. I'll send you a MeMail to tell you my rav name. Metroidbaby is on there too! (I can't remember her Rav name, but there's even a Metafilter group on Ravelry...seriously, a group for just about anything!)
posted by bilabial at 11:41 AM on September 28, 2009