For Red Sox fan Anna Gailbreath, Crochet day is crochet day.
See, Gailbreath is crocheting a red and white sweater this season during lefty Garrett Crochet's starts. She spends each outing working away on the sweater -- but only as long as Crochet is in the game. Once he exits, so do her crochet materials.
"I usually crochet during every game anyway, so I figured I might as well make it a little more thematically appropriate," she told NESN before Thursday afternoon's game, for which she sat in the stands to work on the sweater.
Gailbreath normally works on her project from home. Thursday was her second time doing it in person at Fenway Park. As the game progressed, NESN kept viewers apprised of this story within the story via a "crochet cam" that occasionally tracked Gailbreath's progress while Crochet pitched. He went five innings on Thursday, allowing four earned runs in a 4-3 Red Sox loss to the Mariners.
It was tied for his shortest outing of the season -- and Gailbreath is definitely aware. She has stitch markers to show where each of Crochet's starts has ended, allowing her to keep track of his outings both in number and duration.
"Hopefully, there's 30 of them at the end of the season," she said before the game.
The whole thing isn't just a fun project. There's a hope-filled purpose.
"It's going to be a very simple sweater," Gailbreath said. "My idea was to wear the sweater, hopefully, to a playoff game this postseason."
Fans can follow Gailbreath's progress during the season on X with the hashtag #CrochetingWithCrochet.