by Julia C. Reischel

Every Sunday afternoon a popular Ball Square café begins to flash with knitting needles and flutter with yarn as it fills with members of a local knitting group called Stitch ‘n Bitch.

“Here, socializing is almost as important as knitting,” said Kristina D. Cairns, one of the ten or so Stitch ‘n Bitchers that sat at True Grounds on a recent Sunday. “I look forward to it.”

True Grounds is just one of many cafes across Somerville that plays host to knitters, evidence of a nationwide rise in the popularity of knitting, she said.
Inspired by the original Stitch ‘n Bitch knitting group that was founded in New York City 1999 by Debbie Stoller, Stitch ‘n Bitch chapters have popped up in cafés, bookstores and living rooms across the country, she said.

Stoller, who is an editor of Bust magazine, is the author of two knitting books that have fueled the trend: “Stitch ‘n’ Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook (2003)” and “Stitch ‘n Bitch Nation (2004).”

Stoller’s books, groups, and Stitch ‘n Bitch philosophy have become enormously popular in Boston. Boston’s own Stitch n’ Bitch group has its own Web site and Yahoo group, groups.yahoo.com/group/stitchnbitch-boston, which currently boasts 1679 members. In March, the site hosted over 700 posts, more than any it has received in a month since its founding in 2002.

In 2002, over 1,000 Boston knitters converged for a “Knit Out” at Boston’s South Station, and last fall nearly the same number attended the a knitting festival called “Boston Knit Out” that was held on Boston Common, according to the event’s Web site, bostonknitout.blogspot.com. 

“There’s an entire online community of knitters,” said Kathy Vernovsky, who comes to True Grounds to knit almost every Sunday. “I surfed onto the Stitch ‘n Bitch Boston board and went to one group in Harvard Square. But I like this True Grounds group the best.”

The True Grounds Stitch ‘n Bitch group formed last summer as an subset of the larger Boston-area Stitch ‘n Bitch community, said Katie L. Vale, a regular knitter at the café. Vale said that the group began meeting regularly at True Grounds during the summer when it was largely empty because Tufts University was on vacation.

The café, which was started a year ago, is now almost never empty, and the knitting group’s presence on Sundays makes the seating area quit cramped. The knitters gather in the back of the café, clustered on two fat
couches around a low table.

They each work on a project while talking about all everything from knitting to current events to scientific theories to the meaning of life. Kids are welcome, and other non-knitters are often invited into the circle.

“True Grounds needs to expand a bit,” Vale said. “We’re getting so big.”
SNB at True Grounds has its own Yahoo group and message board, groups.yahoo.com/group/truegrounds-snb, with 28 registered members who post frequently.

Several Boston-area Stitch ‘n Bitch are True Grounds SNB regulars. Martha Spizziri, who said she began moderating the Boston Stitch ‘n Bitch Web site after it was passed on to her in 2002 by, is there almost every week.

“Boston Stitch ‘n Bitch was founded by Laura Ericson with a group she worked with,” Spizziri said. “I really like it—it helped me learn a lot about techniques and resources, and it’s a fun social thing to do.”

Another True Grounds SNB regular is Alasdair C. Post-Quinn, who made a name for himself at last year’s Knit-Out when he displayed his signature “Mathwear” line of original knitted pieces based on mathematical forms.

Post-Quinn sells Mathwear pieces like the “Moibus scarf” and the “Klein Bottle hat” on his own Web site, mathwear.fallingblox.com.

“I have two kids,” said Katie L. Vale. Her son, who is a regular at True Grounds as well, plays a Gameboy while she knits. “In the fall, Dad can watch the Patriots while the kids are with me.”

Ariel E. Alturas, who was settled comfortably into a couch with her project, said that she moved to Boston last summer and knits both with the True Grounds group and with a group of fellow Harvard Medical School students. 

“I’ve gotten to know people this way,” said Alturas. “Knitting is my entry to Boston.”

Some other Somerville knitting groups are more formal, instructing participants on a particular pattern or project at the same time, Vernovsky
said.

The True Grounds knitting group is less of a formal workshop or crafts club and more just a casual gathering of like-minded people, she said.

“This group is great because people work on a variety of projects,” Vernovsky said. “I wouldn’t be happy in a group that worked with the same projects and designs.”

“Say you run into a problem,” she said. “If you’re the only knitter you know, you’re stuck. That’s why these knitting forums are great.”

The reason the True Grounds knitters gather at True Grounds, Vale said, is to support the community while socializing.

“Knitting has potential for being a solitary activity, so it’s good to find a social group,” she said. “We try to support local businesses. We all try to support local yarn shops and cafes.”

Somerville Knitting Studio

Spark Craft Studios, located in Davis Square at 50 Grove St., is one of the several local yarn shops supported by True Grounds Stitch ‘n Bitchers. It opened in Jan. 22 during the first of the season’s blizzards to become Somerville’s only knitting store.

Jan M. Stephenson, Spark’s co-founder and co-owner, said that Spark is much more than just a boutique.

“We’re more of a creativity studio,” Stephenson said. “There’s a membership and community-building element to what we are. It’s a little like a health club.”
Stephenson, who co-owns Spark with Amy Appleyard, said that when they were designing Spark, they envisioned owning a café with a creative component.

“When you’re younger, you play with creativity,” Stephenson. “Then you grow up and it gets hard not to be a perfectionist. We’re helping professional women do something creative. It’s an easy access point for those who maybe don’t think they are creative.”

Though they eventually had to abandon the café part of their vision, Stephenson said that she and Appleyard feel that they have created a place that combines the best parts of a café and a living room.   

“We would like to be a third place for knitters—the wonderful living room you don’t have,” said Stephenson. “It’s a different model from Stitch ‘n Bitch—you don’t have to worry if you’re hogging the café’s space of it you need to buy another drink. This is a dedicated space where you can stay for an unlimited amount of time and have access to instructors in a store with products.”

Spark sells beaded jewelry, scrapbooking and paper crafts supplies and knitting supplies such as specialty yarns like “Manos de Uruguay,”  and “Mango Moon,” which made in India out of old saris. The store also houses a studio area for individual or instructor-led crafting, Stephenson said.

A membership to Spark, which costs $150 per year, comes with unlimited access to the studio, access to instructors, internet and printer resources, and 10% off products sold in the store, she said.

Two months after opening, Spark already had about 100 members, she said.   
Anne Marie Commisa, who lives in Davis Square and is a Spark member, said that she waited for the Davis Square studio to open all fall.

“I live in Davis, so it’s great to come here—it’s like getting your own space,” she said.  Heidi Cron, another member, said that Spark has become her living room away from home.

“I came here on Saturday and watched the Blues Brothers,” she said. “It was really nice to not be at home.”

The store hosts private parties in addition to individual knitters or casual groups, Stephenson said. “We do lots of bachelorette parties and bridal showers.” 
Stephenson and Appleyard chose to locate Spark in Davis Square because of the area’s community feel, she said.

“People here are doing things in a community setting,” she said. “There are a lot of artists, people who come here out of their homes; people who are knitting in Diesel. And it’s on the Red Line.”

Stephenson said she is delighted that she is involved in the crafting industry. “Of all the products I could be selling as a post MBA, this is a wonderful one. It’s a beautiful and human industry.” 

Knitting Nationwide

The opening of Spark, like the exponential growth of Boston-area Stitch ‘n Bitch groups, reflects the growing nationwide passion for knitting and crafts of all sorts, Stephenson said.

“It was a total opportunistic moment,” Stephenson said. “We struck at the right time.”

Stephenson said that when she and Appleyard met in business school and decided to open a business together, they realized that a craft studio would fill a niche in the increasingly popular world of crafting.

“We noticed how excited young women were getting about the idea of craft classes,” she said.

“Every woman we talked to during market research was very excited. The old knitting circle is coming back again. Woman want a way to socialize that doesn’t involve eating, drinking, or smoking,” she said.

Many knitters have their own theories about the popularity of social knitting groups. 

“There’s a general emphasis on unique handicrafts and arts now,” Vernovsky said. 

Cron said that she thinks knitting is part of a trend of moving away from mass-customization. “Doing these kinds of old-fashioned things is popular now,” she said.

Anne Marie Commisa, another Spark member, said she agreed. “It’s the desire not to be mass anymore.”

“My aunt taught me to knit, and her mother taught her. I like being part of that connection to the generations, to participate in something that takes time and is old-fashioned,” she said.

Making handicrafts was a new way for wealthy people to spend their disposable income, said Molly B. Stutzman, another Spark patron.

“It’s a luxury to make something on your own and make it individual,” she said.
Part of the knitting new popularity is a reaction to the Sept. 11 attacks, said Kristina D. Cairns.

“Post-9/11, people were conserving money, doing stuff at home, having a renewed sense of community,” she said.

At True Grounds, Vernovsky that she thought the internet was partially responsible.

“The rise of the internet in the 1990s and 2000s makes it easier to come out of houses and into cafes,” she said.

Vale and other knitters at both Spark and True Grounds said that knitting was a perfect antidote to working with computers all day. “I find it very relaxing,” Vale said. “I mostly work with computers, and the repetitiveness of knitting is relaxing. I like having something tangible when I’m done. It’s not like software.”
Stephenson said she agreed. “Generations past knit because the need socks—this one knits to de-stress,” she said.

“It’s a hobby that’s attracting a lot of type-A kinds of women because it’s fun, and there’s a sense of accomplishment,” she said.

Working with sensual materials to create a tangible product is a welcome change for many busy women, Spark knitter Anne Mocarski said.

Mocarski, works on finances for a nonprofit organization during the day, and therefore enjoys knitting at night, she said. “It’s a tangible thing. This is work where I can actually see what I’ve done.”

“I’ve been thinking for a while that I want to make things,” Stutzman said. “I haven’t done so much recently, and I work at a desk every day. I’d really like to create things.”

Most Spark and True Grounds knitters acknowledge that there has been a huge surge of interest in knitting, that knitting is currently trendy.

“It’s a trendy thing all over,” said Ariel Alturas.  “My little sister told me that it’s an emo thing.”

Still, many knitters said that they picked up the hobby not to be part of the trend, but for a wide variety of personal reasons.

“I’m not typically a trend-follower,” said Vernovsky. “The fact that it’s popular now doesn’t affect me. Everything I knit is not trendy. I’ve always chosen old-woman type style.”

“I’ve always been into crafting,” said Post-Quinn. “I’ve always been into creating my own things. I learned to knit a year ago, and once I understood the stitches and how they worked I started designing my own stuff immediately.”

Cron said that she started knitting when she was going through a bad breakup.

“It’s nice that something beautiful came out of a bad time,” she said.
Alturas said that she began knitting while studying abroad in Norway because she needed something to do while sitting around on long winter’s nights. “My mom taught me when I was a kid.”

Vernovsky said that she was inspired to start knitting by seeing a friend give another friend a beautiful crocheted blanket at a baby shower. “I thought: ‘I would like to give such a special gift.’” 

Do real men stitch and bitch?

Despite everyone’s personal reasons, many knitters at True Grounds and Spark said they agreed that they are participating in a movement, which Stoller described in her books an agenda to take-back-the-knit.

"The only reason knitting has a bad reputation is that it’s something women have always done," Stoller said in the Philadelphia City Paper in
2004. "As a feminist, I need to change this image. I want to make sure my grandma and all the women before me get their props."

At the True Grounds Stitch ‘n Bitch, Cairns said, “There’s something about women feeling OK doing traditional feminine things.”

“Now women are hip and cool—not servants of society,” she said.

“I’d like to think we’re a movement,” Stephenon, Spark’s owner, said. “Stitch ‘n Bitch came out of a big political thing. It’s a great thing for younger women to be doing.”

“I just really appreciate that book,” said Connie Hirsch, a Spark member and knitter. “It tells you how to knit a Joey Ramone doll. It makes knitting fun for people like me.”

As a movement, Alturas said, the knitting revolution has a complicated relationship with an important group of supporters: men. “It’s so sad that there aren’t more knitting males out there.” She said that Post-Quinn was one of only a few regular male Stitch ‘n Bitchers. 

But, Alturas said, her Harvard knitting group is actively encouraging men to come by and knit.

Stoller has said she thinks men should try their hands at knitting alongside women.

"Men are afraid their wieners might fall off if they pick up knitting needles and yarn," Stoller told the City Paper. "Why? Girls have no qualms about playing soccer or basketball."

Post-Quinn said the he thinks the common conception of knitting as a female pursuit is misinformed.

“I think of it primarily as a fact that fishermen developed the craft long ago,” he said.  “In Scandinavia and Ireland, places with large fishing communities, men would knit their own sweaters to relieve the boredom of winter and long voyages.”

“There’s a nautical history to knitting,” Hirsch said. “What sailors call ‘fancy knotwork’ is actually macramé.”

Despite this history of male knitting, Cairns said she does not see knitting as something that men do.

There was nothing innately female about knitting, but that generally men are discouraged from participating, she said.

“Knitting harkens back to a natural need to commune,” she said.

“I think that men are wired that way too. I’m sure more men would want to do it, but there aren’t as many forums for them to do so,” Cairns said.
Other Somerville knitters said that they don’t think men are interested.

“In general, crafting isn’t something that attracts men,” Stephenson said. Spark has almost no male members and few male customers, she said. “Men can come, they are welcome, but we tend to reach out to women.”

It would be fine if men wanted to join Spark, but Anne Marie Commisa, one Spark member, said does not think any would. “I do think that knitting is a feminine pursuit,” she said. “It’s not something that my husband or brothers would be interested in.”

“Knitting would probably attract the kind of men who like talking to women,” said Hirsch. “If a guy comes to a knitting group, he will have to talk about bras.”
Stephenson said that she is reluctant to see knitting as a wholly political act. “It’s unfair that there’s some sort of debate about whether knitting is not feminist,” she said.

“I don’t think that we are into the debate. I don’t have political feelings on it at all—it’s a hobby.”

Political act or not, most of Somerville’s knitters said that they simply love knitting.

“It’s a huge part of my life,” Vernovsky said.