On Wednesday, Oct. 20, I was able to join a few members of the student body at a new recurring meeting. Stitches is an organization where students can meet to work on yarn craft projects as well as meet new people. 

Maggie Nelson and Amber Rynes are the two students who came up with the idea to have a time when people with the same hobby could meet up, get to know one another and share what projects they are working on. I decided to join them on Oct. 20 to see what people were working on and to share what projects I have started. We were joined by two other students, Lisa Chu and Shelby Pletz, who just happen to be roommates who share the same hobby. 

I asked each of them how they learned how to knit or crochet, and some of the stories were quite interesting.

“It started from my ex-boyfriend’s grandma, actually, Chu shared. “We were sitting in her house, watching the old Godzilla movies and she was like, ‘you need something to do, I’ll teach ya how to knit.’ That’s how it started.” 

My experience was similar to Chu’s, minus the ex-boyfriend. I learned how to knit when I was about 10 years old, on a vacation with my three older siblings and my grandparents. My grandma saw that I was bored one day, so she pulled out a spare set of knitting needles and showed me how to knit. Since that vacation I’ve been attempting to learn how to knit more proficiently. I learned to crochet, through similar means, this time being taught by my mother and the vast number of videos on YouTube.

Pletz shared that she started to crochet only recently because she saw her roommate, Chu, knitting before winter break this past year. “I didn’t want to learn to knit, I wanted to learn to crochet. So, for Christmas I asked for yarn and crochet hooks and how-to books. And I taught myself based on these books. I’m still learning. I look up tutorials.” Others vocalized a difference between teaching themselves using books versus videos. The consensus of the group was that everyone learns differently and both are good tools to use so one doesn’t struggle. 

Rynes was actually knitting a new project, a striped knit scarf. She vocalized some difficulties she was having with the scarf edges curling in on themselves. Everyone tried to give her some insight based on their experience to avoid this issue.

With the discussion about tutorials, I brought up the idea that content creators on some apps are actually drawing public attention to the yarn crafts and it is being seen as a more inclusive, fun activity. 

The overall experience of the meeting was great. Everyone was very welcoming and easy to talk to. It had the sense of community that students might not find in a local workshop or program. It was comforting to find others around my own age who had the same hobby as me, especially a hobby that some view as being an older women’s hobby.