McKeesport Knitters Pick Library Lawn for Saturday Celebration

By Jason Togyer
The Tube City Almanac
June 08, 2017
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

It only takes a set of needles and "the ability to chatter" to participate in the worldwide event coming to McKeesport this Saturday.

That's the advice of Susan Paoletti of Glassport, one of the people planning to participate this weekend in "World Wide Knit in Public Day" on the lawn of the Carnegie Library of McKeesport. The event begins at 11 a.m. and will include a potluck lunch, and the public is welcome to attend, says Mary Rose Bendel, director of adult education and outreach for the library.

Number 10 or 11 needles --- available for $3 or $4 per pair at most craft stores --- are best, Paoletti says. Otherwise, she says, little else is needed to join in the fun.

"We have patterns and we have the yarn," says Paoletti, who learned to knit as a young girl and picked the hobby up again 10 years ago, when she retired from a career at Gimbels, Horne's, Lazarus and Macy's.

Paoletti belongs to a group of about 10 local women --- although men are welcome --- who regularly meet on Thursdays at the library and are known as the "Mad Hatters." They make hats for infants and chemotherapy patients who have lost their hair, although they're also now making leg warmers for elderly care home residents.

When Paoletti took up the hobby again, she was making afghans, scarves and hats for friends as gifts. Then, she ran into Dena Chottiner at a craft store, who was buying yarn for a knitting group at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC in Oakland.

About three years ago, Paoletti and Chottiner connected with Bendel at the library, and decided to knit in McKeesport instead.

Bendel, who also knits, describes herself as a "beginner." "I'm still learning," she says. "I have to use a loom. I'm not good at it because I don't have enough patience!"

But she enjoys the hobby and has kept at it for two years, making hats and leg warmers along with Paoletti, Chottiner and other members of the Mad Hatters, which also includes Paula Ballas, Pat Begandy, Sue Hanna, Cheryl Kormos, Chris Piccioni, Ruth Sabo, Kathleen Sherman, Dutch Shick, Kim Vezzani, Ellen Wander and Ann Lopretto.

This will be the second year that the McKeesport library has served as one of the hundreds of sites participating in "World Wide Knit in Public Day." The annual event was created in 2005 by Missouri crafter and clothing maker Danielle Landes to encourage people who knit or crochet to meet other hobbyists.

The event has grown from 25 local knitting sites the first year to now include hundreds of sites in the United States and more than 50 other countries, including Australia, China, England, Finland, France, Ireland, Norway, South Africa and Sweden.

Paoletti and Chottiner had previously participated in a "World Wide Knit in Public" event at Magee-Womens before they decided to host one in McKeesport.

"Honestly, I think the people in McKeesport have more fun," Paoletti says.

Donations of yarn are also invited, especially from people who may be cleaning out a collection of unused yarn from someone who no longer knits, or has passed away.

"In fact we rely on (donations), because yarn can be quite expensive," Bendel says.

Paoletti says even fancy yarns, like those made with metallic thread, can be used, though the club tries to avoid using wool, because it can irritate the skin, especially when worn as a hat.

Participants in Saturday's event need not necessarily be knitting scarves or hats or doing any kind of knitting at all, Bendel says --- any kind of needlework, including crochet, cross-stitch or needlepoint, is OK.

"Any kind of stitching is welcome," she says. "It's really about having a day to gather together."

Other "World Wide Knit in Public" events are being held on Ellsworth Avenue in Pittsburgh's Shadyside neighborhood; at Magee-Womens Hospital; and at Chess Park in Monongahela, Washington County.

For more information about World Wide Knit in Public Day, visit www.wwkipday.com.

The Carnegie Library of McKeesport's event will be held on the main lawn at 1507 Library Ave., weather permitting. Everyone is invited and the event is free.

For more information about the McKeesport event, call (412) 672-0625.

Originally published June 08, 2017.

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