twitter junta

"Syjunta" = sew circle/junta used to be a popular kind of social gathering amongst women/housewives once upon a non-emancipated time in Sweden. And I suppose in many other countries too. Like a book circle, but with yarn, needles, fabric, hooks instead. Plus food, drink and the exchanging of ideas. (Or quite possible simply gossip for the less intellectual, more narrow-minded...).

Sadly this tradition has petered, times have changed, for better and for worse. For me, and obviously for a whole lot of other emancipated modern women, needlework, spending time with yarn and hook is very far from a traditionally housewifey thing to do. It's just a fine thing to do, satisfying to be able to create something from a ball of yarn, a piece of fabric, whether alone, travelling or in a social gathering of some sort.

Someone (not me) came up with the idea that people (tweeps) on Twitter who like to knit, crochet, sew, embroider, well anything artsy craftsy really, should meet up for a Twitter junta. In theory something that sounded like a nice idea indeed.

But to be honest, just because you like to read this and that blog, or follow this and that person on Twitter, it really doesn't mean you're either interested in seeing them irl (for various reasons) or that if/when you do meet them it'll feel as right irl as it does online (for various reasons also).

I've always been (and will always be) quite sceptical when it comes to the group-thing. These past few years I've come to realize that I really don't do the group-thing. Not me, not interested really. Not that I'm anti-social, far from, I'm just in general more of a one-on-one person. To pick that one brain, to hang with that one person at a time, that I love (which in a group situation is naturally far from always possible). Which is a nice feeling to finally simply acknowledge like that. I don't do the group-thing.

I suppose this reasoning about group structures would be interesting to elaborate in a blogpost one day. Because human (and otherwise) interaction and behaviour is of course very interesting (and often disheartening, since the world is what it is as a whole...). But this neither that blogpost nor that day.

But to every rule there are exceptions. Lovely exceptions. Exceptions that really make life that grand place of good surprises and gifts it should be far more often that it seemingly is.

The first Twitter junta occasion took place during my sore thumb-period, I didn't attend. Today was the second occasion and I showed up. Bringing vegetable pie and semi-healthy fruit-nut cookies. And yarn, needles and hook. We were six women (but crafty men also allowed) and the most adorable (second to loafie of course) black-white shaggy perfect yarnbally looking dog (sadly no great photos to show the adorableness).

We potluck ate, drank, talked, knitted, crocheted. I managed to satisfyingly lend a rather substantial helping hand to a couple of yarn-projects, we talked some more, exchanged food and I have to say that it was a really nice gathering of yarny tweeps indeed. It could have been an awkward occasion, draining, tiresome in that clamped group-thing way.

Instead it turned out to be relaxed, inspiring, fun and unpretentious. I'm pretty sure with another tweep group structure, like any group structure, it could have been quite the opposite, a sure shot that hit the goal post, a certain one time thing. But I'm glad it wasn't. Instead I'm quite looking forward to the next Twitter junta meetup in about a month. A bright tweetlight in the not so bright times of me right now.

Yarn bring people together. Yarn is good. And Twitter can be good too.