Get ready to unwind this Saturday — unwind your skeins of yarn, that is. June 14th is Worldwide Knit in Public Day, and Memphis will be a part of it this year, thanks to fiber arts store Stitching Supply in Chickasaw Oaks.
“We’re going to just have a place for a whole bunch of people to sit and knit or crochet or whatever other kind of stitching they want to do with us,” says Erica Carpenter, Stitching Supply’s owner. “We’re making it almost like a little festival, where we’re going to spill out into the little mall that we’re in, and we’re going to have demonstrations and raffles and games and giveaways and special merchandise.”
Worldwide Knit in Public Day began in 2005 and has since become the largest knitter-run event in the world, spreading across continents and bridging communities. “I’ve only been open since September, and when I realized that this was an event that was coming up, I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun?’” Carpenter. “We’re big on community here at this yarn store. We do a community table all of the time, and we do social events frequently — at least off-site every month. The Knit in Public Day matches our community vibe.”
After all, community is what initially drew Carpenter to knit and crochet, and later to opening a store. She had done the craft as a kid or a teenager, really, but didn’t get back into it until the boredom of the pandemic. Once the lockdown lifted, she found something she hadn’t had before.
“I used to do a lot of sewing, and with a sewing machine and embroidery machine and all that kind of stuff, that’s fun and all, but it’s solitary,” she says. “You have to pay attention to the needle and the machine and the direction that your fabric is going in, so if you have somebody there with you, you’re not really talking to each other very much. And I found with knitting and crocheting everybody’s talking about their project, about their lives.”
And so, community will be at the center of Knit in Public Day for aficionados and newcomers alike. Instructors will be on-hand demonstrating knitting and crochet. “I’m hoping they can get people interested in joining in,” Carpenter says.
For the day, Stitching Supply will introduce limited-edition achievement patches and will sell exclusive yarn from independent dyers, one of whom is Forbidden Fiber from Covington, Tennessee. Pile of Threads (featured in this week’s cover story) will be on-site offering custom embroidery, and MemPops will be there with popsicles.
“I can tell you that there are other stores here in Chickasaw Oaks that are also planning a little extra special event within their stores as well,” Carpenter says.
Worldwide Knit in Public Day, Stitching Supply, Chickasaw Oaks, 3092 Poplar, Saturday, June 14, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.