A friend and I made plans to go to Craft Bar last Thursday.  In between making plans to go and the big night, I got an email from a wonderful woman with the Museum because she saw my post about Open Source Embroidery.  She thanked me for my post invited me to Craft Bar.  And I said, "Oh, yeah, I'll be there!"

And then my friend had to cancel. (o_O)  At this point, normally I would have waited to go to the next one, when I'd have friend-back-up*.  But I decided that in 2010 I was going to try for more community involvement, plus, I'd already told someone I'd go ... so I went alone.  And I'm so glad I did!

I totally should have taken photos ... although I'm not sure I would have had the guts to, being by myself and all ... because it was pretty amazing how many people were packed into that cozy Museum.  There were two main areas.  One where Amelia was demonstrating how to make plarn out of plastic bags and teaching people to crochet a little project with their plarn.  The other was where Marita was teaching people to knit.

I started off in the crochet area and made a little ball of plarn and crocheted myself a plastic coaster.  I was surprised that the plarn felt soft and was easy to work with.  I had fun talking to Karen (a glass artist) and Anna (a weaver) about crocheting, plarn, and crafting in general.

I ventured over to the knitting area because I heard someone say that you could keep the knitting needles and yarn that you used to learn with.  Free lesson?  Free yarn?  Free knitting needles?  Awesome!  I scooted my chair into a group of people that were just casting on, someone handed me a ball of yarn and a set of needles, and off we went.

Look at that stockinet ... boo-yah!  By the end of the night, I'd learned knitting, purling, and had big plans to try some ribbing.  Yes, my swatch is in wool (which I'm allergic to).  I wasn't itchy while I was working with it, I think I was concentrating too much to itch, but on the walk home I did some serious scratching.

I can't wait to go back for the next Craft Bar on April 1st.  I'm hoping to be more involved, maybe help out as an instructor.  That would be so cool!  I love my online crafty family, but nothing beats being in the same room with someone and having them be able to reach over and say, "No, wrap the yarn *this* way."

* I am a classic introvert.  I'm not shy, or fearful of social interaction; I just like being by myself.  I never get bored when I'm alone.  In fact, I'm not sure if I could ever have too much "alone time."  I'm super-comfortable hanging out with people I already know, and I'm happy I now live close to many crafty friends.  But but stranger-situations can leave me feeling drained/stunned ... like when cough medicine gives you that "wide-eyed-baloon-head" feeling.  I didn't feel drained after Craft Bar though, and I think it's because we were all participating in the craftiness and that crafty-connection made everyone feel like a once-and-future friend.  Crafting kicks ass.