Emma Stern, a sophomore international relations and spanish major, knits at Bitchcraft hosted by the Women's Resource Center. (CU Independent/Michelle Davenport)
On the fourth floor of the UMC is a place where crafts and students looking to kick back meet. The group is called Bitchcraft, and meets twice a month in the Women’s Resource Center.
One of the founders of Bitchcraft, 21-year-old senior women’s studies major Natalie Ziemba, explained the group’s origins.
“One of the ideas behind (the creation of the group) was that I wanted to knit, and there’s a movement called, ‘Knit and bitch’ and we wanted to bring people together,” Ziemba said.
Another creator of the group, 20-year-old junior studio arts and English major Michelle Barry, said she is fond of the concept of a social crafts group.
“I love knitting, and I love the idea of a group coming together to do crafts,” Barry said.
Ziemba said the group is not just for women or experienced knitters.
“We had a guy in here last year,” Ziemba said. “We will have both guys and girls, but it’s a women’s celebration group, so just so long as no one’s making sexist remarks…and if people don’t know how to knit we teach them.”
She also said participants of Bitchcraft are encouraged to bring crafts of any kind to the meetings, not just knitting.
There are peer groups other than Bitchcraft that also meet in the Women’s Resource Center, according to Ziemba.
“Kitchen Table is a group of multicultural women (who) hangout and eat food, and it alternates weeks with Bitchcraft…it’s one of our oldest peer groups,” Ziemba said. “Then one of the other groups that started up again this year is Queer Women in Community. We stopped it last year because we didn’t really have people coming, but we’re bringing it back this year every first and third Wednesday of the month from 6 to 7:30 p.m.”
Dewi Duggan, an 18-year-old freshman physics major, said she has been to Bitchcraft twice before.
“All my friends ran up to me and said, ‘Oh my God! There’s this club called Bitchcraft, isn’t that hilarious? We want to go,’ and I said I was already going,” Duggan said.
The size of the group varies from meeting to meeting, according to Ziemba, and the atmosphere is purposely laid back so that people can relax and chat with each other while they work on crafts.
Ziemba said this year’s turnout has been good and that Bitchcraft now often has regular members.
“So far this year we’ve had a lot of new people,” Ziemba said. “Usually we have a core group that come regularly, but it’s still early I guess.”
At a Bitchcraft meeting on Oct. 6, the group discussed new knitting patterns and where to find them, and talked about the approaching season for newly-knitted gloves and scarves.
Duggan said the group’s topics of discussion vary dramatically from time to time.
“We had a discussion about flatulence last week,” Duggan said.
Emily Prather, a 19-year-old sophomore integrative physiology major, said she was a newcomer to the group.
She explained how she heard about Bitchcraft, and that she happens to be an experienced knitter.
“I got an e-mail (about the group) in the Buff Bulletin…I’ve knit for a really long time,” Prather said.
Her project for the evening was a pair of thrummed mittens, which are mittens with fleece sewn into the inside of them between stitches.
Ziemba spoke to the talents of everyone at Bitchcraft.
“I’m so impressed by everybody!” Ziemba said.
The Women’s Resource Center is located in UMC room 416. Bitchcraft group members meet on the first and third Tuesdays of every month from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Their next meeting will be on Oct. 20.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Andrea Rael at Andrea.rael@colorado.edu.
