My evening with Bernie and the sausages: Stitch 'N Pitch 2012!

I will begin this post with an amazing video of my friend Helena dancing her ass off. I'll explain this later.

Stitch & Pitch Dance from Andrea on Vimeo.

I have lived in Wisconsin for a tad over a year, and in that time I've learned many things, including that most Wisconsinites love sausage. Therefore, it's completely rational that they'd dress adults up as sausages and have them race around a baseball field.

I had seen photos and heard stories of the famous racing sausages at Milwaukee Brewers baseball games, but there just hadn't been a good time to see them in person. But then, it happened: Stitch 'N Pitch 2012!

Sponsored by The National Needle Arts Association, the nationwide Stitch 'N Pitch brings together baseball and needle arts. Yarn vendors come to the baseball stadiums while knitters, crocheters, and quilters enjoy the game and partake in their favorite crafts.

Stitch 'N Bitch Madison sent 19 knitters to this lovely event, and it was definitely a moo-worthy evening. After my first ever tailgating experience (never thought I'd intentionally eat dinner in a parking lot), we proceeded to Miller Park.

The view from our seats. Don't ask me who the players are or what the score was.

I was there for camaraderie, knitting, and of course, sausages.

Let's start with some action shots:

Kelsey. 

Anne.

Yours truly.

The REAL action: Andrea catches a fly ball... of yarn.

And then the sausages came out!

The sausages rode Harleys!
Left to right: Mexican, Polish, German, American, Italian

Anne REALLY wanted us to get on the jumbotron, so she made us these fabulous signs:

We really do knit in a bar!

Despite our best efforts (including Helena's rockin' dance moves in the video at the top of this post), we didn't make the jumbotron. It's okay, though, because...

I met Bernie Brewer! Apparently this is a rare occurrence.

Now that Bernie and I were pals, it was time for me to watch the sausages race!

And it's the Chorizo for the win!

Never one to resist a good photo op, Andrea and I proceeded downstairs to get our picture taken with some sausage statues, including the winning fella.

Andrea is a runner, so she helped me establish the proper form.

It was quite a game! I did the wave, had a frozen lemonade, and made friends with a famous, albeit moderately creepy, mascot. It was time to head home, and unfortunately, it wasn't the Brewers' night. The Toronto Blue Jays won the game, much to the delight of my 3 Canadian friends. 

In addition to the photos, I'll always have a lovely memento commemorating this occasion:

My souvenir bobble head!
(The Polish sausage hard at work on a cross-stitch!)
This dude now lives on my desk at work.

One, two, three strikes: I'm out!