过去,女人们喜欢三五成群,坐在一起打毛线,拉家常,说说笑笑。如今,打毛线在时尚女生圈流行起来,与以往的女人不同,她们对这一手艺有新的认识...
For many people, the word "knitting," tends to conjure up visions of elderly ladies chuckling together and sipping lemonade on a porch while rocking themselves in the shade.
From time to time, they pause to check their stitches for imperfections and discuss recipes. Several generations later, those days are long gone.
Nowadays, members of "Stitch n' Bitch" groups are keeping this old craft alive, but with a sassy new attitude.
"It's 'comfort food' for our hands, I think, and for our minds."
Dawn Dennis learned her crocheting skills from her grandmother, but growing up in the scorching heat of Las Vegas put a damper on her enthusiasm, since the idea of crocheting sweaters in the desert lacks an obvious appeal.
She came to China in hopes of doing event planning during the Beijing 2008 Olympics, and she managed to land a job planning events for McDonald's during the games.
During last year's much colder Beijing winter, Dennis initiated a Stitch 'n Bitch group with another friend while knitting Christmas presents over bottomless cups of coffee.
Globally, women can find Stitch 'n Bitch groups online, and modern women in the know might be familiar with cleverly named sites like "knithappens.com" or pattern books like "Happy Hooker Crochet Guide."
Similarly, the "Son of a Stitch n' Bitch," book offers cool knitting alternatives to help women avoid what they refer to as the "curse of the boyfriend sweater."
Since Stitch 'n Bitch is a great way to meet like-minded people, Dennis thought Beijing was ready as well.