As the fall semester marched on towards winter, new clubs are still popping up here and there as students find common interests. One of these new clubs is the Crochet and Knitting Club, founded by juniors Audrey Hudson and Chloe King. Though crocheting and knitting sometimes have an old-fashioned reputation, the girls wanted their club to feel vibrant, welcoming, and current. To attract a wide range of members, Audrey and Chloe emphasized that crafters of all skill levels were encouraged to join. Complete beginners could learn the basics from the club’s informal lessons. Those with some experience could pick up new techniques and patterns. Advanced crocheters and knitters could share their knowledge while taking on exciting new challenges.
In their first few meetings, Hudson and King, and the new club members bonded over yarn, hooks, and needles, along with the showing of Gilmore Girls in the background. As the cold months approached, they looked forward to warming their hands with crocheted and knitted works of art. The first project the club is working on are crocheted beanies to donate to those in need. Although many of the members are beginners, everyone works together to learn the basic stitches. With such a wide variety of materials available, the club members were empowered to explore projects of all kinds. The beginners could stick to basic beanies in standard colors, while more advanced members borrowed unique yarns and specialty needles to create intricate colorwork scarves, delicate lace shawls, or striped sock projects. The rainbow of colorful yarns and diversity of hooks and needles enabled the club participants to expand their skills and creativity.
Audrey Hudson, president of the club, has been crocheting since this past march. Her inspiration for picking up the craft is that she “ really just wanted to be able to make cute clothes for the summer but it’s been a lot of fun learning all kinds of patterns.” Hudson says “what I struggle with is finishing projects , I tend to get excited about starting a project and then just never finish it.” Hudson’s favorite masterpieces are a market bag with a mandala/flower pattern as the base and a baby hat she made for her pregnant aunt. She began the club “because [she] wanted to share [her] love of crochet and being able to turn [her] hobby into something that can be used to help people, hence the making beanies for the Worthington resource pantry.” Along with learning to create beanies she encourages all members to bring their projects home to work on them so they do get more practice and can slowly learn to make more things. She hopes the club helps people who deal with anxiety like her, “I know most pass [the] time [by] scrolling on [their] phones making anxiety worse and it’s nice to get away and be kind to my mind.”
Vice president, Chloe King, started crocheting when her parents bought her a beginner’s crochet pack and she loved that “it gave [her] something to do other than sports.” King’s main challenge is finding a consistent time for the club to meet that fits with everyone’s schedules. “But some positives is that we have over 80+ members,” says King. Even though she has been crocheting since only last christmas, her favorite project she’s made is a green flower sweater as well as beanies “ because they are so quick and easy to make.” King says that the club was actually Mr. Pfliegers idea, “once he found out that Audrey and I loved to crochet he suggested we should start a club,” and they both thought it would be fun to have a club for people to crochet with.
The club meets every other week and continues to learn new things and progress on current beanie projects. Join the Crochet/Knitting club today!