PHILADELPHIA -- In a few weeks, tens of thousands of fans will begin making their way back to Citizens Bank Park for another season of Phillies baseball.

Of course, it’s easy to think of Philly fans as the stereotype often associated with them — passionate fans who once threw snowballs at Santa Claus, boo their own players, and intimidate opponents. But in reality, that’s far from the case.

Sure, many will make their way to the ballpark wearing their favorite players’ store-bought jerseys with baseball gloves in hand, ready to boo if Bryce Harper strikes out in his first at-bat. Others, however, will show up in custom, one-of-a-kind gear that took days — or weeks — to make. And, instead of a glove, some might even arrive with a crochet hook and yarn in their bag.

“So many times, we get put in a box,” said 47-year-old South Philly native Amy Baldwin. “Like, I’m a sports fan, I’m a theater fan, I’m a crafting fan. Why can’t you be all three?”

There’s also a calm, creative side to Philly fandom. That’s as evident as ever within the community of local fans who devote their time to the fiber arts — which includes knitting, crocheting, quilting, and more — as a way to show off their passion for the city’s teams.

Whether they’re making their gear at home or crocheting plushies inside Citizens Bank Park, there’s an art to their fandom — and there’s passion behind every stitch.

“Crocheting and sports are a great intersection,” said Claire Schaefer. “I don’t know how big it is, but I think there’s definitely a place for that, especially in a sports city like Philly.”

A community of ‘knit-a-holics’

Crocheting, where the individual stitches of a project are linked together to build a whole, is an appropriate metaphor for the kind of community the hobby has built for these Philly sports fans. And the Philadelphia Drunken Knitwits are the perfect example.

The Knitwits, a group of all genders and skill levels who label themselves as “knit-a-holics,” have met every week since 2017 to bond over their shared interest. Baldwin was first introduced to the group through a 2025 Inquirer story about vandals cutting down its art installation in Passyunk Square. In the past, the group has also “yarn-bombed” — the practice of decorating statues or other landmarks with yarn — Fitler Square, putting holiday sweaters on animal statues, and returning to East Passyunk’s Singing Fountain for a holiday display.

Since, Baldwin has made the Knitwits a part of her family.

“I was so welcomed,” she said. “Everyone was just so nice and friendly and it was easy to keep showing up every week. It just feels like a community around here. … We need organizations like this to exist to enjoy life. Like, we work and that’s fine, and you have to have your house, that’s important. But the joy in the community that comes after that, we need these institutions to be successful.”

While everyone in the group has similar artistic interests, there’s another commonality between them: They’re Philly sports fans.

“[My family] had season tickets growing up,” Baldwin said. “Even if times were tough, we would cut anything before we cut the season tickets.”

Members have been able to merge both passions through events like the Knitwits’ Stitch N’ Pitch. The group held its first such event at Citizens Bank Park, where Baldwin and others attended a Phillies game with their materials in hand to work on a project in the ballpark. It’s a growing trend, but one that’s been happening for years.

Baldwin, who first learned to crochet 10 years ago from her late grandmother, Libby Riley, crocheted a baseball that she was able to complete before the final out.

“I love baseball and I love the Phillies and I was like, I wonder if I can actually stitch a real baseball during a game,” Baldwin recalled. “So I made the two separate white parts, the leather parts, and then literally made the red stitches, and stitched them together in the ninth inning.”

Baldwin has also made Phillies inspired koozies and an Eagles blanket for her nephew Graham. But she’s not the only Drunken Knitwit combining her love for Philly sports with crocheting.

“Knitting ends up becoming a solitary thing that you do alone in your apartment or house,” said 43-year-old Kensington native Laura McNamara. “[Drunken Knitwits] combined the idea of going out to happy hour with knitting and meeting people around the same age. And I’m a big Philly sports fan. I’ve been a Phillies season-ticket holder for a few years now.

“When we had our Stitch N’ Pitch event, I did not expect there to be such interest in people wanting to knit at the game at the same time. I never actually thought about bringing my knitting to the game. Now, I think this season, I’m probably just going to bring more.”

McNamara makes Phillies bandannas for her dog, but her more popular items were part of last year’s yarn-bombing installation: a Phillies ice cream helmet and a Phanatic. Both of the original items were donated to the Atwater Kent Collection at Drexel University.

“I go to a lot of games and I don’t use patterns for any of the stuff I created,” McNamara said. “So, I was really thinking about shapes I could make and I was looking at the ice cream helmet and sort of started breaking it down into shapes, realizing that I could crochet these items. And I was like, this is perfect.”

The ice cream helmet took three days to make. Once the finished product was posted onto the Drunken Knitwits Instagram page, they received a number of responses asking for the pattern. After recreating the project, McNamara made the pattern and put it up on her Etsy page, Oddment Design, for people to purchase.

“I feel like right now we’re in this time where knitting and crocheting is peaking again,” McNamara said. “They’re trying to get off their phones, which is a good thing. I remember that we saw this trend in the 2000s too. I think there tends to be a trend that goes up and down of people trying things, which is lovely. But there’s always going to be that core group of people who just love it and don’t stop.”

A younger generation creating wearables

Leading the peak in crocheting and knitting has been a younger generation, including many who picked up the hobby during the COVID-19 pandemic, like Schaefer. The 27-year-old taught herself as she made the move from Sioux City, Iowa, to Philadelphia, where she now bartends at Ten Stone on South Street.

Although Schaefer wasn’t originally a Philly sports fan, she quickly became one.

“When I moved to Philly, I really adopted the Eagles and Phillies,” Schaefer said. “[The fandom] shows how people from different backgrounds can have just this one thing in common. You pass somebody on the street who has nothing in common with you, but you’re wearing an Eagles hat so they say, ‘Go Birds.’”

Growing up a creative person, Schaefer has been showcasing her newfound fandom through crocheted wearables — making Sixers ear warmers, Eagles beanies for her friends, “Go Birds” sweaters, and the new trend in the crocheting world: mesh jerseys.

“So, I spent probably three weeks on it,“ Schaefer said of her handmade Phillies jersey. ”I saw a girl on Instagram who made a Yankees one, so I decided to make a Phillies version of it and freehanded that based off of her visual. I’ve noticed a lot of people making the mesh stuff. It’s a pretty new trend now. I think it follows the style you see in mass-produced knitwear."

Schaefer plans to continue making wearables and already has her next project lined up: a Cooper DeJean mesh Eagles jersey.

“Cooper DeJean’s hometown is about an hour away from where I grew up, so I’m planning on making it number 33 for a little Iowa-Philly connection,” Schaefer said.

Alyssa Hollie, a 31-year-old Churchville native, also began crocheting during the pandemic, starting with plushies to give to her friends’ kids. Recently, she crocheted her first wearable: an Eagles beanie that she gave as a Christmas gift to her father, a die-hard Eagles fan who tailgates before every home game.

“He’s been doing it for so long,” Hollie said. “Like, we go and he always wears a funky hat. They’re usually green, but they never relate to the Eagles. So I’ve always been like, ‘You need to get a better hat.’ I quickly dug around the internet. I found a pattern from Crafted Visions on Etsy. So I used that as a base, and then made some adjustments.”

The beanie took Hollie a week and a half to create before she revealed it at the last Eagles home game of the year.

“I put it on his head and he was like, ‘This is awesome,’” Hollie said. “And a lot of his buddies were like, ‘Where did you get that?’ And I was like, ‘From my hands.’ So a lot of them were really excited. His buddies thought it was really cool. And now I have people asking for more of them.”

Hollie also started a Phillies record blanket, crocheting one row for each game. But after a loss in the postseason, the true Philly fan came out of her — she got frustrated and never finished the project.

“I think one day I’ll forgive them and finish it,” Hollie said.

Although the Eagles beanie was her first wearable item , Hollie plans on making more in the future, and the community at large — coupled with a lack of options from retailers — is helping her make that a reality.

“Some of the women’s sports gear that comes out of either the NFL or other companies isn’t really what younger women sports fans are looking for,” Hollie said. “The crochet community is building more patterns and are really driving a lot of inspiration around sports gear and crocheting.”

And while they’re often weeks in the making, there’s only one thing for both Schaefer and Hollie that tops the feeling of actually completing a project: the reactions from others.

“That’s got to be the best part, honestly,” Schaefer said. “All of that work is so worth it when women in their 60s come up to you in the bathroom line and they’re like, ‘Oh my God, did you make that yourself?’ It’s just like the most gratifying things.”

‘It’s not a cheap hobby’

The landscape of fiber arts has changed over the years. Cheryl Thompson-Nagelberg, 68, remembers when she had to flip through a number of magazines to find patterns she enjoyed. Now, she can go online and find thousands of free patterns with the touch of a button.

That’s how she found inspiration for her Eagles granny square sweater.

“I saw something on Instagram, but it was for a basketball team and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I have got to do that in Eagles colors,’” Thompson-Nagelberg said. “I didn’t have a pattern, so I went to my local yarn store and the woman there, Lauren, helped me plan it out. I made about 30 squares and sewed them all together. My daughter calls it the family heirloom because she loves it so much.”

Over the years, Thompson-Nagelberg has made handbags, drawstring bags, clutches, sweaters, and blankets. The fiber arts have played a big part in her life, as she’s traveled to yarn shows in London and Amsterdam, where she’s taken classes and visited local yarn shops.

“I’m really into it,” Thompson-Nagelberg said. “And it’s not a cheap hobby, I’ll tell you that. But I tell my husband, I could be collecting diamonds or I could be collecting yarn. You pick what one you want.”

With plenty of experience, her Eagles sweater, which took two months to make, was the first Philly sports gear she made. In the future, she hopes to make a similar sweater with a Penn State design.

Crocheting doesn’t just connect strangers, it’s also a family tradition that’s passed down through the generations.

Rita Stowell, 72, learned how to knit from her mother, Carmella Caprice, when she was in her 20s. She has been crocheting ever since, for over five decades, starting with Sesame Street characters and eventually adding Philly sports merchandise — including blankets, funky hats, and Phanatic plushies made with Big Bird patterns.

“If you use your imagination, Big Bird had a beak. The Phanatic has a nose,” Stowell said. “Big Bird had feathers on his head. I put a Phillies hat on the Phanatic. Big Bird had feet and the Phanatic had sneakers. The body shape was exactly the same.”

The Greater Philly Yarn Crawl

With crocheting roots running deep in Philly, the city will prepare for its third annual Greater Philly Yarn Crawl — a four-day event taking place from March 12-15 across 17 shops. Each shop will have different yarn deals and special patterns. With the crawl quickly approaching, the Philly sports fiber arts community has one goal in mind.

“My goal is to hit every shop in the four days,” Baldwin said. “It’ll be rough working during the day but I have faith in us. We’re going to do it.”

©2026 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC. Visit at inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.