Purl jam

Yarn lovers and other creative folk find lots of places to get crafty

By Michaela Bancud

The Portland Tribune, Dec 2, 2003, Updated Oct 30, 2009

The fuzzy yarn is flying on Craft Night at Nocturnal on East Burnside Street.- “Most of the people who work here are either artists or musicians,” says the nightclub’s Seann McKeel. “On Wednesdays it was slow down here, so the cook would be cutting patterns, and the bartender knitting at the bar, and I was like, ‘What is this, Craft Night?’ ”

Now it’s the customers who satisfy their craft cravings, cutting things up and squeezing out the Krazy Glue. A table with tools and up-for-grabs supplies sits in the corner, but many people bring their own projects.

Tamara Goldsmith, 30, unravels a section of an old light-blue sweater, a copy of thinking gals magazine Bust and a glass of red wine in front of her. When she’s done unraveling, she’ll re-knit the yarn to make a new garment. Goldsmith taught herself to knit while she lived in New Zealand and didn’t know anyone. She’s noticed that knitting has definitely picked up in Portland Ñ and it’s social. In addition to Nocturnal, Goldsmith frequents Craft Night at the Delta Cafe in Southeast Portland.

Goldsmith’s friend Sara Bird crochets nearby. The 26-year-old wears a natty charcoal cap she made herself.

“Some people turn into knitting robots once they get going, but I’m going easy tonight,” says crafter Susan Beal as she helps a beginning knitter “cast on” with reclaimed yarn from the supply table.

Casting on is the tricky initial step that must be completed before the knitting can start. Beginners usually attempt to make a scarf first because it’s relatively easy and doesn’t require a pattern.

Learning to knit is like dancing a tricky new step. The hands feel incredibly clumsy as uncooperative fingers struggle with the yarn and needles. But once it clicks and the new knitter gets the hang of it, he or she experiences what can only be called knitter’s high. And it’s a lot cheaper than yoga classes.

Knitting takes center stage at two craft events this weekend.

Alicia Paulson, who makes a line of handmade hats, bags and socks under the name Rosie: Posie Little Things, is holding her first Handmade Holiday Bazaar. Paulson recently joined forces with Ella, a girly east-side boutique that specializes in event planning and gifts. Approximately 30 independent crafters, most in their 20s and 30s, have signed on.

Participants include knitter Melissa Lim, paper artist Denise Sharp and card designer Julianna Smith, who recently won an award at a New York gift show for a line of hand-embellished stationery called Parlez-Vouz Greeting Cards. These crafters don’t generally sell their wares in stores, and most do not have a sales reps. Instead they choose to sell directly to friends and customers through casual events or through the Internet.

Guys like it, too

Knitting is an equal opportunity pastime: Paulson taught her husband, Andy, to knit.

“He picked it up in five seconds,” she says.

As a nurse, he’s not particularly bothered by gender stereotypes, but Paulson says there is still a stigma about men knitting. So at the peak of his knitting-fever, Andy Paulson kept his yarn and needles in his briefcase and knitted surreptitiously on the bus during his commute.

“It’s something Alicia and I can do together,” he says of his new addiction. “I especially like making things that I can use: gloves, hats and striped socks.”

This weekend’s other big craft event is Riches at Rimsky’s, organized by bag designer and all-around crafter Susan Beal. Eleven artists will sell original art, clothing, jewelry, paper crafts and more at the Rimsky-Korsakoffee House, where Beal works two days a week.

Beal recently started a craft column for Nervy Girl’s online magazine and has written for Bust magazine on topics such as buying a used sewing machine. Note to the crafty: Seek out a ’70s Kenmore.

Out, then in again

Alicia Paulson thinks that modern society’s chaotic pace has contributed to “people wanting to chill out and do something warm and cozy.”

“It’s therapeutic and social, and there’s a whole population of girls who never stopped doing it in the first place,” she says. “I mean, I used to be the only person I knew doing this. It was very dorky, not cool at all.”

Paulson’s first knitting mentor was a 70-year-old knitter who worked at the Yarn Garden, the east-side knitting Mecca at 1413 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd. Here you’ll find Jesse Stemberg behind the counter; he’s the hip 20-year-old Ñ more rock ’n’ roll than knit ’n’ purl Ñ widely known to be an authority on knitting. He started out working in the stock room and now he teaches classes.

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