Stitching, pitching and catching up

The National NeedleArts Association (TNNA) is a trade organization representing shop owners who market supplies to needle workers—knitters, quilters, embroiderers, and needlepointers, for example. From June 13 to 15, 2009, TNNA sponsored “The NeedleArts Market in Columbus, Ohio. The market brings more than one thousand purveyors of yarn, needlework kits, painted canvas designs, accessories, and other needleworker gadgets to display and sell their wares to the shop owners.

TNNA is a member of The International Council of Needleart Associates (ICNA). This is an umbrella group of representatives of needlework organizations all over the world who meet periodically to share ideas on problems common to all of the organizations. The National Academy of Needlearts (NAN) is one of the organizations that is a member of ICNA, and, as it happens, Dolores is the NAN representative to ICNA. This June, TNNA hosted the meeting of ICNA, and that brought Dolores and Hugh to Columbus for the NeedleArts Market.

TNNA has developed a promotion to interest people in the needlearts called Stitch N’ Pitch where stitchers are encouraged to take their work to a baseball game and stitch on it as they watch the game. As an example of the promotion, TNNA sponsored a Stitch N’ Pitch night at the Columbus Clippers game on Saturday night, June 13. Dolores and Hugh joined the throng in the Stitch N’ Pitch reserved left field section, and since Cathy lives near Columbus, she came along.

The Clippers are a triple A farm team of the Cleveland Indians, and their opponents on the Stitch N’ Pitch night were the Louisville Bats. Since the Bats are the farm team of the Cincinnati Reds, it was an all Ohio game. The Clippers play in Huntington Park, a brand new ballpark that very much resembles a smaller version of Camden Yards! There is a food court behind the left field bleachers. It is backed by a two story brick building with fast food outlets at the court level and a restaurant on the second floor. The field is well sized with 378’ down the right field line, 325’ down the left field line, and 400’ to dead center with a wall about 8’ high all around tapering to about 12’ at the foul lines. Unlike Camden Yards, the bull pens are down the first and third field lines, not in center field, but the entire ambiance seems familiar to an Oriole fan.

It was a well played game. Unfortunately for the home team, the Bats won 7 to 2 with strong pitching and timely hitting. Justin Lehr, the winning pitcher is now 8 and 2. He came to the game with a 4.22 ERA, but this strong 9-inning effort certainly improved that statistic, so we might hear more of him in Cincinnati. Zach Jackson, the losing pitcher for the Clippers is 3 and 5 after this start. From our left field vantage point, he seemed to have a good fastball. (The score board clocked the speed of each pitch and he was often 90+ mph.) However, even though the ball was often over the plate it was very hittable. Matt Laporta, the Clipper’s left fielder, who played in front of our place in the stands, impressed us. He made a good shoestring catch to take away a single, and caught one against the wall that could have been extra bases. Also, his homer accounted for one of the Clipper runs in the losing cause. The batter of note for the Bats was center fielders Drew Stubbs who was 4 for 5 for the evening.

The local Columbus NBC TV affiliate sent a camera man to cover the Stitch N’ Pitch event. The eleven o’clock news featured an interview with one of the people from TNNA, and they showed pictures of several people stitching while they watched the game. To our surprise, one of the stitchers on TV was Dolores!