Do-it-yourself crafting a funkin’ good time

By Brianna Goldberg

Staring down the barrel of a glue gun, Melanie Yugo tries her best not to boogie.

She should be used to photo shoots like this: the craft-diva Yugo and her partner, DJ Jason Pelletier, have become minor Ottawa celebrities after creating Spins and Needles craft and DJ nights, held in and around Centretown.

Pelletier’s eyes light up from behind his thick black-rimmed glasses.

“We get recognized now,” he says.

“Yeah, I was walking down the street one day and some woman said, ‘Hey! Aren’t you the knitting lady?’” Yugo says.

Pelletier cuts in: “Don’t say that you’re the knitting lady!”

A simple label like “the knitting lady” is no reflection of the kind of people who run Spins and Needles events.

It’s not easy to make crafting sexy, but Spins and Needles has done it by pairing Yugo’s cute and hilarious craft ideas (do-it-yourself hand-held pinball games, for example) with Pelletier’s funky house beats.

Earlier, the two reminisced about Spins and Needles over coffee at the quiet Elgin Street Hava Java. The DJ said that both he and Yugo had attended a fun but totally funkless craft and pub night years ago in Montreal. When the two arrived in Ottawa, they found the town wanting in terms of night life.

Pelletier had been spinning since his days growing up in New Brunswick.

Yugo had a penchant for fabric swatches and beading. Ottawa’s cultural scene was eerily quiet. Now, the rest is history.

“We try to make the crafts creative but simple, because we want everything to be totally accessible,” says Yugo, as the cashier at the Hava Java rests her head in her hands and blatantly eavesdrops on the interview. Pelletier had been reluctant to chat there at first. He says it was too quiet.

Later, during the photo shoot, his need for noise becomes apparent. While Yugo is being properly outfitted for the photo with paintbrush-wielding claws, Pelletier throws a funky and infectious record on the turntable. As she’s posing, Yugo’s hips sway. Just a little.

Craft-n-tunes groove moments like these are what make Spins and Needles such a standout in the Ottawa night scene. It’s also what created a big enough buzz about Spins and Needles to have the National Gallery approach them and request an event.

“Spins and Needles is on the move!” Yugo says, referring to a new phase of the craft evening’s evolution. Branching out to different venues in the downtown core is the newest item on their agenda.

“We‘re hoping to find some small new galleries or lounges. We want Spins and Needles to expand,” Pelletier says.

The old standbys of Clocktower Pub on Bank Street and Shanghai restaurant on Somerset Street West were incredibly popular, but at risk of becoming stale for the craft night.

While Shanghai will certainly remain a Spins and Needles venue – “They’d have our disco bingo craft night every week if they could!” Pelletier says – they will be trying out more unexpected venues, such as La Petite Mort gallery, starting this month.

The new year will even see Spins and Needles invade the Museum of Civilization.

On the eve of the National Gallery instalment of Spins and Needles, Yugo fusses with overflowing mounds of stuffing for the plush monsters that crafters have already begun sewing. Pelletier plays one record after another on his sticker-covered turntable, squinting his eyes, listening hard. Around them, more than 200 crafters ranging in age from high-schoolers to grandmas gather at candlelit tables. They cut, stitch, glue and drink.

Two young women sit up front, so close to Pelletier’s speakers they can barely hear each other as they chat. But if they can’t hear each other, why come out to a night like this? Couldn’t they just put on a CD and craft at home?

“There’s great music, drinks, and you can make felt monsters. Hello!” says Amber McKegney, a marketing officer for Magnetic North theatre festival.

“There was one guy at one of these a couple of months ago who came over to our table and asked if we could switch knitting needles,” added her friend Jennifer McDermott, a patron services assistant at Centrepointe Theatre.

“He sat down with us, we talked, and then we never saw him again. I still have his knitting needles. That’s why I like Spins and Needles: it’s a place where you’re likely to sit down at a table of strangers, have a good time and there’s something to hang on your wall to show for it at the end of the night.”