in our club
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Stitch ' n ' Bitch
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Stitch ‘ n ’ Bitch
The AWCH had an evening “ mixer “ event probably something like 20 years ago , and I happened to end up chatting with former member Beth G ., who happily told me about starting up Stitch ‘ n ’ Bitch . Beth had been a member of a similar group in Colorado before moving to Hamburg . As an avid knitter , that sounded like something right up my alley ! women and their projects around a table or into some member ’ s not-so-spacious apartment became a bit of a challenge , and we started gathering in a church meeting room . When we had to vacate due to extensive planned renovations , S ’ n ’ B moved to Shelly G .’ s atelier until COVID-19 made that unfeasible and we switched again , this time to Skype virtual meetups .
Armed with Beth ’ s address , I made sure my children were taken care of and my own school work was prepared and headed there one Tuesday evening shortly thereafter . Forewarned that the apartment was in a turn-of-the-century building with no elevator , I blithely started up the first flight of stairs and finally panted my way to the top floor . Beth , fortunately , had nibblies and beverages to revive us from the stairs . I have absolutely no recollection of who was there , but there must have been four or five of us .
Later , we met at Beth and Martin ’ s new-to-them ground-floor apartment , and we continued doing so every second Tuesday for several years . By then S ’ n ’ B had grown to probably a dozen or so members — and not just knitters . Crocheters , embroiderers , and sewers had also joined . To ease it up on mother-of-two Beth , someone suggested that we meet at different women ’ s homes on an alternating basis . The hostess would provide some nibblies and a beverage or two ; each attendee would contribute a snack of some kind and / or additional beverages .
Meeting on Skype has enabled young moms to join in without having to find a babysitter , women not centrally located to participate without a long commute , immune-compromised women , and women with jobs to join in . However , we truly miss seeing others in person .
Amazing women have met up , beautiful friendships have developed , we ’ ve shared tips about our handicrafts , and even ( attempted to ) learn new ones . We ’ ve shared births and graduations , we ’ ve mourned painful losses together , fevered through election nights , welcomed new members , and bid farewell to others . By now our WhatsApp chat greets us on a regular basis with tidbits of info ( vanilla extract , Reese ’ s , real brown sugar ) and comments on everything under the sun .
S ’ n ’ B gets my vote as one of the best parts of the AWCH !
Sandra S .
Around that time , Jess introduced a Craft Hope project , and we made quite a number of items for two or three different projects around the world . At some point in time , Tracy introduced the From the Heart Pillow Project and started sewing bees . Whatever pillows weren ’ t quite finished came to an S ’ n ’ B meeting and were finished before the evening was over .
Fast-forward to about three years ago , by which time S ’ n ’ B had become one of the largest “ special interest groups ” in the AWCH . Trying to squeeze 12-15 www . awchamburg . org 39