I learned how to knit when I was visiting my husband’s family in the States. We spent long hours on the road driving from town to town to see family and friends for Christmas. Knitting seemed like a good activity to keep myself entertained during the long ride.
A few years later, I met Joanna Stewart who said she knew more young Czechs who had learned to knit in the US. It is true that knitting, crocheting and other crafty exploits are typically done by our grandmothers, while the people of my generation prefer to buy the finished product. Why is this? It takes less time and there are many brands and colours and patterns to choose from. But knitting is not only about having something to wear. If done in a group, knitting can be a lot of fun and can help bring the people together.
There are several knitting groups in Prague. The one I know through Joanna is called Stitch’n’Bitch. The members are mostly expats who enjoy creating things together. Most of them are knitters, but they also have a quilter and the occasional beader.
Stitch’n’Bitch has been going on for more than five years now. But as it goes with expat groups, the founding members have left and new ones have replaced them. Originally, the group sessions were held at a food shop at Wenceslas Square but it became less convenient for both, the owner and the knitters to meet there. For a while, there were no sessions until Joanna joined and offered her flat. She has been hosting the Stitch’n’Bitch group for about a year and a half now.
Moving the group sessions to a private place was probably a very good idea. “You can come on Thursday or Saturday and don’t forget to bring a snack,” Joanna told me in an email. When I finally showed up at her flat, I was offered a chair, a drink and delicious chicken soup she had just finished. As we talked, a few more members arrived and after finishing our bowls of soup, we all moved to the living room to continue with the chat and to work on our projects.
Most of the women turned out to be excellent crafters. The less experienced ones, like me (I was happy to remember how to do the purl stitch), were happy to learn new stitches and pattern ideas. Several of them were making square blankets, which will go to the women at the refugee center in Liberec who are about to have a baby. That’s one of the charity projects Stitch’n’Bitch has been doing. Last May, the group hosted a knitting day for the women at the refugee centre. The group donated yarn and needles, brought pattern books and sat around with the women sharing a craft together. Joanna said it was great fun having Iraqi women teaching American and Canadian women teaching Angolan women. They plan to do it again in the spring.
Apart from that, the women from Stitch’n’Bitch donate yearn to a school in Uganda, where Joanna was a teacher for three years. She said the students in Uganda were eager to learn new trade, especially hand crafts. Joanna showed the students how to use their crochet skills to make products like hats, sweaters and bras, which they found very useful. They learned how to knit too although needles were not available and they had to find other things like palm fronds, reeds and pencils to replace them.
The girls then used the skills to make a living. “A girl could make three baby hats with one ball of yearn and earn enough to buy three more balls of yarn, etc. so they had enough yarn to make something for themselves and reserve one ball to make more hats,” said Joanna, who was happy to hear that the school has now its own knitting club.
Charity work is one of the activities Stitch’n’Bitch enjoys doing. But as Joanna says, the group is mostly about getting together, eating, working on their projects and enjoying each other’s company. “I love the group because it is my only chance to hang out with other ‘cultural creatives’ who inspire me to create beauty in the world.”
The group meets on alternating Thursdays and Saturdays. It is open to beginners, people of all ages and nationalities, women and men. Right now no men are attending, but Joanna has several guy friends who knit and go to her for help finding yarn or new patterns. Sometimes the group gets together for other reasons besides knitting. The last time it was a Tupperware Party where the knitters learned how to make Japanese rice noodle salad and vodka cocktails. There is always something to explore and you don’t have to go abroad to give it a try.
Kateřina Heilmannis a staff writer and translator at the Monitor. She
likes writing about cycling and culture.
You can reach her at [email protected]
