Stitch 'n' Bitch London Part 2 : The Stitching Bit

Tonight I went to my first Stitch and Bitch London meeting in the Royal Festival Hall.  I found a large group of knitters in the lobby and promptly sat down next to a few girls.  I asked one girl if she knew how to knit and if she would teach me.  She looked confused, but agreed to do so.  I later found out that this was her first time at stitch and bitch, although she had been knitting since she was seven.  After awhile I noticed that there was a group of "learners" sitting directly behind me being taught by what seemed to be someone who was a regular.  Oops. Leave it to me to force randos to teach me how to knit. Oh well.  My teacher for the evening was a very friendly and nice girl who was knitting gloves into an anime character for her friends birthday present this weekend.  I feel this speaks wonders to the type of girl she is.  Because of the configuration of the chairs I ended up mostly speaking to her, and another woman, who seemed to be a couple years older than me and much more professional looking.  The other woman was working on a baby sweater, maybe, she wasn't really sure yet what it was going to turn into.

After I'd started to get the hang of this knitting thing and they could stop instructing me, their conversation turned quickly to their love of all things knitted - no passion for all things knitted.  I've never really known any hardcore knitters before but I was really surprised by how enthusiastic they were about yarn, needles, knitting patterns, and the stress relief that comes from mindless knitting.  Um... I don't mean to be rude but I thought we were supposed to be bitching?  I don't know much about knitting related things so I must admit I found it difficult to chime in during parts of the conversation.  Though this was probably for the better because it allowed me to focus on my pretty mangled looking beginnings of a scarf.

Overall the girls were very encouraging and helpful.  As I looked around, I saw a wide range of women from all ages and all walks of life.  Surprisingly, I also saw quite a few men.  Unsurprisingly, they weren't exactly manly men if you know what I mean.  One older man, wearing cut off jean shorts far shorter than anything I own, and a senior citizen by his own admission (he's been enjoying free rides on the tube because of it) spoke to us briefly about his love of the knit.   Also, I was very impressed by one mature bird's (this is my new phrase for all women over 50) black and hot pink sweater she was knitting.  It had all sorts of patterns on it and her fingers moved so quickly just whipping it together like it was nothing.  I definitely enjoyed the characters here and everyone seemed to be genuinely interested in helping eachother with their knitted goods.

While Stitch and Bitch was a comfortable and friendly atmosphere, I'm just not sure I share such a passion for knitting, and admittedly I found it a bit boring at times.  Perhaps this is just because it was my first time, and maybe I need to give it a few more chances before I really get into it.  At the very least I am pleased with myself for taking proactive steps towards establishing my own social circle here, because lets face it - moving to a new city is tough, and showing up somewhere with no familiar faces takes some courage, for me anyways.  Anyways, I hope to get a purple scarf out of the whole ordeal.