During lunch meetings in English teacher Mary Palisoul’s room, members of the new Knit for Need Club — established earlier this year — carefully wrap threads of colorful, fluffy yarn around metal crochet hooks while junior co-presidents Aadhya Naveen and Shreya Raghuvanshi walk around, demonstrating how to crochet a scarf.
On the other side of the room, juniors treasurer Anika Ramakrishnan and secretary Meha Sekaran help others learn how to knit with looms. For several members, this was their first time crocheting or knitting.
All the officers have extensive prior experience knitting and said they wanted to share the fun activity with others who are also interested while at the same time helping the community. The officers plan to spend a few weeks teaching techniques before giving students time to create and donate their own projects.
To keep the meetings open-ended, the officers take suggestions from members to decide what they want to do during the meeting. Most of the meetings are spent on hands-on activities and demonstrations of knitting and crocheting techniques. This approach allows members to quickly identify unfamiliar techniques and get help at any time.
“I’ve been knitting for a while and I think it’s a great hobby to learn,” Naveen said. “Anyone can learn it. But it’s really about weaving the community together, literally.”
The club has two goals: to teach knitting and crocheting techniques to members, regardless of prior experience and to donate finished pieces created by members — such as scarves, beanies and blankets — to organizations that provide services to charities, such as for the homeless and premature babies. So far, knitted products have been donated to Warm Up America and Newborns in Need.
Although the club has enjoyed enthusiastic participation from roughly 12 students interested in learning to knit, purchasing the materials needed for club activities — such as yarn, knitting needles, crochet hooks and knitting looms — was an initial struggle.
The officers lacked money at the start of the school year for these supplies, so they took out a $105 ASB loan to buy the necessary materials from Joann’s and Michael’s. The officers plan to pay back the money through boba fundraisers.
“We want to inspire others to contribute to the betterment of communities of need,” Raghuvanshi said. “Especially in a hectic high school environment, we also wanted to provide a place for stress-relief and creative expression.”
