OTA Mingle || Stitch & Bitch

[can_fight_ugly]

WHO: Anne
WHERE: House 53
WHEN: Forward dated to Saturday
OPEN TO: OTA - but specifically those who expressed an interest in joining Stich & Bitch
WARNINGS: Stitching & Bitching. Should be a fairly tame log but will update as needed

---

Network Post Here

The first thing Anne had done was make a mental list (since she couldn't make an electronic one - or even a pen and paper one) of the kind of space she was looking for. Open floorplan, fireplace, multiple rooms, yardage. Eventually, she'd settled on House 53 - a soft yellow bungalow with three bedrooms, a fireplace, spaced farther from its neighbors than some of the other housing units, and with a sizeble plot of land behind it before it butted up against the houses in the next street over. Check.

Second, she would need chairs. She borrowed whatever furniture she could move from the surrounding empty houses, marking the underneath of each one in order to return them to their proper houses afterwards - if that was necessary.

Chairs arranged in a loose circle in the house, she went out to borrow a hatchet and go out to collect some firewood - this took the most amount of time, because she wasn't exactly built for this kind of labor. She's been working at it over a few days, though, and she knew that necessity would mold her far better than any CrossFit or Krav Maga class ever could. She spent enough time on this endeavor to ensure there'd be enough wood to last them a bit, then returned the hatchet. She'd have to ask Tony for one of her own at some point.

It doesn't matter if you're the first one here, or if things have been under way for a couple hours and you're just rolling in; Anne greets everyone as they arrive, already near the door or getting up from her chair to offer a warm handshake and introductions.

Today's inaugural session was meant to be a little more free-form, and let it grow from that organically, but at some point when a number of people have gathered Anne will stand to get their attention;

"I wanted to thank you all for coming. Unless I've somehow missed you, you know I am Anne Weying; I can teach knitting, and I would like to learn how to spin.

I know we're all from different worlds with different levels of technological advancements, but here we're all on the same footing. And that footing's about to get cold if we can't knit a sock, first. This idea was born from a practice in my world called "Stitch and Bitch", where people would gather to knit, and crochet, and generally complain about things in their lives. Here, I think it would be important if we used this time to share our skills and help each other establish a line of production in order to harvest and spin fleece and knit it into usable goods - or weave, or crochet, what-have-you.

We're definitely not in a tropical climate, and without knowing just how cold it can get here, I think it's best if we start preparing for a cold winter now."

She sits down and takes a look at each of those gathered around, "So; what can you teach, and what would you like to learn?"

Comments

[mediumhoodie]

"I can look at the books in the school house." Kat's expression grew wistful and soft. "I'm good at learning from books." Turning theoretical knowledge to practical knowledge wasn't a skill that everyone had but Kat learned. She had too in order to survive and to free her city from Mundus's control.

"Oh. I also found needles at the inn. I hadn't brought them but it's a resource that I'm sure we can use."

[can_fight_ugly]

"We can always use more needles. Was it just one pair, or is there a decent cache there?"

Anne would agree about the schoolhouse; there was a great deal one could learn from books, and she's grateful for the references they had available to them here. "This is from a zalpaca, right? How hard was it to gather the fleece?"

[mediumhoodie]

"I meant sewing needles." They were smaller and not the sort of thing that they can reasonably make, which was why Kat had thought to mention them. It was a different kind of stitching but it would still be useful.

"Not really. I didn't have a lot of time and I had to track them down. It's harder to find animals in the winter." There wasn't any snow on the ground but it was getting very cold out.

[can_fight_ugly]

"Oh!" Anne chuckles at her own mistake. "I guess I hadn't expected sewing supplies to be just lying around. You didn't happen to find them in a cookie tin, did you?"

She nods. Seasonal animal migration habits; things Anne hadn't put much stock into when she was getting her law degree. "It might not be a bad idea to recruit some of the hunter-tracker types to find us some more animals, before they get too sparse."

Hunters could always get them pelts, but that was then one animal that wouldn't produce more; at least with a domesticated herd they could ensure a renewable resource of fibers.

[mediumhoodie]

Kat's mouth softened into a light smile. "No. I didn't. They were a little out of the way but at the bottom of a basket. I almost missed them." Needles were very small and easy to lose.

"I think so too." Kat wasn't great at tracking but she was trying to teach herself. "There are also farm animals here, kept by some of the residence. We can probably ask them as well though I think we should harvest after the winter." Or it'd kill a lot of animals by taking their shelter from the cold.

Collecting fleece didn't mean they had to hurt or kill the animals.

[can_fight_ugly]

"It's a tricky balance - making sure we all make it through the winter together. It's too bad we don't have more time to prepare."

Come the spring, it would be easier to establish an appropriate shearing schedule.

[mediumhoodie]

"It is. I'm used to it." If she was being completely honest. "But there were always places to go where we could raid food storage's or find warm places to sleep. It was a bonus to living in a city."

Kat had never had an easy life and things like this felt very normal to her.

[can_fight_ugly]

"I'm sorry you had to deal with that. Hopefully, we'll be able to figure it out here; but you're not alone. If you need anything, let me know, okay?"

Maybe it's a little heavy-handed, but she wanted Kat to know she'd be supported here. Anne definitely got the concept that peopel here helped each other out, and she's more than willing to continue that tradition.

[mediumhoodie]

"Thank you. I've met a lot of people here willing to help others." Kat's expression softened though she didn't quite smile. "Tony helps, usually with just voicing his opinion." He was a very opinionated guy but so far, most of his opinions have been logical and something that Kat can get behind.

It was also the reason that Kat was here. She couldn't stay in her house by herself. Not when the world continued on without her. She needed to do more than survive. She needed to fight and thrive.

"But if I need anything, I'll let you know."

[can_fight_ugly]

"Yes, he is very good at that." Anne smiles. She was getting to know him better here than she had back in New York. Granted, that was before either of them had a decade of personal development. From what little comparison she'd seen, he's definitely grown into someone who's opinions were worth listening to.

"Just give me a holler and I'll be by."

[mediumhoodie]

"I will." Kat wasn't sure what to do with Anne's offer but she was happy. She didn't know if she would ever call her or how something like that happened without being a little awkward but it inspired a pleasant sensation to blossom in her chest.

"Now," She began, her eyes dropping back to the small bag of pink fluff she'd brought. "We should see if we can turn this into something we can us. I can put out a message on the network to see if we can get more fleece from hunters through the winter. That way you can focus on the other pieces we need to start putting this together."

[can_fight_ugly]

That, Kat, is the power of Friendship.

"That's something I hadn't thought of - I knew hunters would be able to procure pelts but why did it not occur to me they'd be able to do the same with fleece-bearing animals?" She smiles in amusement as her folly, but it's good to hear they've another possible outlet through the winter. "Do that, and let me know what you find."

[mediumhoodie]

Kat nodded her head in a short quick bow. "I will. It's good to split up the work." That was Anne wasn't trying to do it all herself.

"I'll let you know."

[ooc: want to wrap this thread up here? It feels like a fairly natural spot.]