Let’s Go Outside! Worldwide Knit In Public Day 2024.
Keeley Richardson
Founder and Chief Fiber Officer
There is still time to gather your friends, grab your knitting and plan to join the fun on Worldwide Knit in Public Day, June 8th. Yarn lovers across the globe will be taking their knitting outdoors and going public with their favorite activity. WWKIP Day has been on my fiber radar for a few years now and I have joined friends to celebrate the occasion without really knowing why. This year, I decided to find out more…
Of course, any day can be a knit in public day, and we knitters have been taking our fiber projects wherever we go since knitting began. I am rarely seen without my knitting when I am traveling or have a spare moment pretty much anywhere. We often find ourselves knitting in unconventional places. One friend absolutely loved knitting at her kids’ band practice.
“Sitting in gym bleachers listening to young musicians who were not yet proficient, knowing I could knit was what made me look forward to school band concerts”. Janell M.
Another friend once took her knitting to a daughter’s school play…
“The kids afterwards mentioned they could see me knitting from the stage” Blair D.
So, if many of us are already knitting in public, why a specific day to do it? There’s a one-word answer – Community.
You Might Also Enjoy
Upcoming Events!
Danielle Landes launched the first WWKIP Day back in 2005. Its main purpose was to bring knitters together. Today WWKIP Day is the largest volunteer run knitting event in the world. Its mission statement is “Better living through stitching together”, a sentiment we can all appreciate.
These days the organization is headed up by Astrid Salling from Copenhagen who has been encouraging knitters to head outside to knit together since 2011. Sometimes knitting can be quite a solitary pastime, and the aim of WWKIP Day remains to bring knitters out in public to find each other and their community. It is definitely working! There were around 25 events in 2005 and this celebration of our worldwide knitting community has gone from strength to strength since then. On June 8th this year, there will be yarny gatherings across the globe – Rome, Oslo, London, Abu Dhabi and Pretoria to name a few.
The WWKIP Day website has all the information you need about where to find a meet up. (It also has advice on how to organize a knit in public gathering if you are inspired to host one next year). I did a quick count of registered events as of today, and there will be 179 official WWKIP gatherings across the United States, with 11 in Washington State. These are the official gatherings that have been registered on the WWKIP Day website, but there will be many more events taking place across our region.
If you can’t get to one of the official events listed on the WWKIP Day website, don’t despair, your local yarn store is a great place to start when looking for a meet up. Many LYS’ across the region are hosting their own events. Check your store’s social media and websites. If they are not hosting, they may know about WWKIP Day events being organized by knitters in your area.
However, knitting in Public doesn’t have to be a huge gathering. If you don’t have an event close by, there is still time to organize your own with a couple of friends, a friend, or head to a café or outdoor space by yourself with your knitting. The original aim of WWKIP Day was to encourage people to find fellow knitters, and any fiber art can be a great conversation starter. I have been asked “What are you making?”, in airports, waiting rooms, on trains and in cafes. It’s a truly great opener and conversation always follows. You may even inspire non-knitters to pick up their needles!
“I knit at Bellevue Botanical Gardens. They have a cute indoor coffee stand for bad weather, and lots of prime spots for knitting and enjoying the lush gardens.” Jennifer P.
Luckily, sunny skies are forecast across the Puget Sound region on Saturday, so it’s the perfect opportunity to head out, enjoy some public knitting and find fiber friendship. Happy Worldwide Knit in Public Day!
