Knit PIT Yarn Club creates community through knitting
Knitting in a brewery is not your typical grandmother's knitting circle, but it's happening in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh every month.
Eleventh Hour Brewery is filled inside and out with knitters making hats, tank tops, sweaters and more. They are all members of the Knit PIT Yarn Club.
Leigh Peracy even made her rehearsal dinner dress right at the bar.
"I knitted it for so long that I injured my wrist," says Peracy.
From beginner to advanced, the event attracts a wide variety of crafters. Some even spin their yarn from dyed raw wool.
Kate Rosensweig founded Knit PIT Yarn Club just 11 months ago. Rosensweig says she used to knit at Eleventh Hour Brewery while her boyfriend watched sports. However, she says the real reason she created the club was to meet people.
"I moved back to Pittsburgh in 2020," says Rosensweig, "and making friends in your 30s is impossible. I wanted to find a community that I could be part of and that I wanted to be a part of."
Word of the club quickly spread through an Instagram page. Now, Rosensweig says anywhere from 70 to 100 people come every month. Many of them share Rosensweig's desire to make new friends.
Krysta Eyler of Pittsburgh says she now sees many people outside of the monthly meet-ups.
"We've been sitting together for the most part since the first time we all showed up," Eyler says. "We've gone to other knitting events and a movie night in Carnegie, which was so much fun."
Anyone worried about breaking the ice can sit at the "friendship table." It's a space for people who come to events alone and want to make new friends.
Prachi Shah lives in Oakland, and Fiona Lynch in Swissvale. The two met for the first time at an event.
"I figured it would be a good place to meet people after college," Shah admits. "I don't really know how to meet people anymore."
Both women hope that they will be able to extend the friendships made at the club into other aspects of their lives.
"I hope so," says Lynch. "We're having a great conversation."
Rosensweig likes to call the club radically inclusive. All types of people and all types of fiber art are welcome.
"I'm making something called wild orange, and it's a shawl, a lace shawl," says Libby Rupp of Lawrenceville.
Rupp says it's only her second time at a Knit Pit event.
"We had a group that would meet twice a week, and when COVID came, it was all over with," says Rupp. "Now two of our group have moved away, and one passed away. When we heard about this, it was wonderful. You can go to a knitting store, but you have to use their yarn. So, you feel kind of funny."
Rupp says it's nice to see the hobby catching on again.
"It's nice to see because everyone used to think knitting and crocheting is for old people," says Rupp. "I used to work in a knitting store, and there were a lot of young people, men too."
If you're wondering if it's hard to have an alcoholic beverage and knit at the same time, Rosensweig says it's best to think ahead.
"I recommend bringing an easy project if you're just trying to make friends," Rosensweig said.
If you don't know how to knit but you want to join, Rosensweig offers a class to learn with all the materials included.
