OUT OF THE SHELL
QU E E N SA D IE
S L IM Y STITC HE S
New SLUG Queen to leave Eugene in stitches BY DANTE ZUÑIGA-WEST
S
he is an emissary of the arts — a thread-
spinning, yarn-whirling ambassador of
costume — and a die-hard advocate for
keeping Eugene wonderfully weird. Queen
Sadie Slimy Stitches is Eugene’s new 2012
SLUG Queen, the offi cial royal representative of the Society
for the Legitimization of the Ubiquitous Gastropod. It’s a
Eugene thing, and this queen wears it well.
Slimy Stitches is a Eugenean through and through, having
lived here since she was a 16-year-old girl. Now, in her not-so-
free time, when she isn’t managing the weight of her crown, she
works as a costume dresser for theater and dance shows at the
Hult Center. This is how she found her way into the slime-light.
“Last April, Wicked toured through Eugene and stayed for
two weeks,” Slimy Stitches says. “And the women’s ensemble
had these green Emerald City gowns. They were these huge
avant-garde green dresses. And someone made the offhanded
comment that the SLUG queens would kill for gowns like this.”
Queen Slimy Stitches — who goes by Maiya Becker when
the crown isn’t resting upon her head — took that offhand
comment seriously and began knitting great green gastropod-
themed garbs. Ironically, Slimy Stitches’ original intent was
to convince others to enter the SLUG Queen competition,
wearing her meticulously knitted lime-colored linens.
“I started going around to everyone I knew and trying to
get them to run for SLUG Queen,” Slimy Stitches says. “I
just wanted to make the dress, but everyone kept telling me
that I should run for it.”
Slimy Stitches says that the outward show of support from
her community encouraged her to do research on the SLUG
Queens of Eugene, and the more she learned, the more she liked.
“I went online; I read everything I could about the SLUG
Queens, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized
I could totally go for it,” Slimy Stitches says.
So for more than a year, she prepared to make her run
for the crown at the 30th anniversary of the SLUG Queen
contest on Friday, Aug. 10. It took her 483 days to knit
the costume that would become her regal gown of slimy
success. Slimy Stitches says that part of the outfi t was made
out of (lime green) T-shirts, cut and turned into yarn. Thirty
individually knitted slugs (one to represent each previous
SLUG Queen) also adorn the gown.
“Some of the yarn I spun with my spinning wheel,”
Slimy Stitches says. “Most of it was donated by people who
really supported me. It was a lot of work.”
Slimy Stitches says she started knitting 10 years ago,
when one of her friends agreed to teach her in exchange
for some house-sitting time. “I can’t look at things without
seeing them covered in textures,” she says.
And as if this new SLUG Queen’s professional career of
charismatic costume creation isn’t eccentric enough, she is also
a dedicated guerrilla yarn-bomber. If you happen to be walking
by a parking meter or a local business sign and see it covered in
beautifully knitted brightly colored yarn, Slimy Stitches and her
group “The Naughty Knitters” are probably to blame.
“It’s knit-graffi ti. We literally do graffi ti with knitting,”
Slimy Stitches says of yarn-bombing. “It is illegal but I’ve
never ever heard of anyone getting arrested. People love it;
they encourage us.”
Slimy Stitches says her desire to yarn-bomb stems from a
need to shake people up and make them look at things from
alternative perspectives. She says she loves engaging with the
community of Eugene because the city is a mix of very weird,
very opinionated people with so many different agendas.
Being SLUG Queen means being Eugene’s unoffi cial
ambassador. The queen is elected from the midst of a rowdy
no-rules talent show and asked to throw a fundraiser for a
charity of her choice. Slimy Stitches, who earned her crown
P H OTO BY TO D D CO O P E R
after a hard-fought display of simultaneous knitting and
dancing, will champion the Materials Exchange Center for
Community Arts (MECCA) as her charity of choice. She
says that choosing to fundraise for MECCA is a decision
that’s directly aligned with her personal mission to kick the
cage and inspire alternative perceptions.
“It’s the same sort of thing as yarn-bombing and altering
perspectives,” Slimy Stitches says. “They take garbage and
turn it into art. That’s different and I love it.”
Sitting at an outdoor café shortly after her coronation,
sipping beer while dressed in full SLUG Queen regalia,
the “raining” queen waves to passing motorists who honk
in support. As she greets a young woman who walks up to
congratulate her on obtaining the crown, the young woman
tells Sadie Slimy Stitches that she one day wants to run for
SLUG Queen.
“You defi nitely should,” Slimy Stitches urges her loyal
subject. “It’s a wonderful way to be a part of the community,
and really do something here.”
ew
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EUGENE WEEKLY AUGUST 23, 2012 11