Before this spring, knitting was not a skill that Olivia Joy thought she’d ever desire to learn — at least not for quite a few decades.
“I thought it was something only for old people,” Joy, a fifth-grade student at George Nettels Elementary School, said. “Something for people who were already retired.”
Of course, she didn’t know at the time that in just a few weeks knitting would bring her — well, her last name — joy.
“Now I think it’s a lot of fun,” she said. “It’s kinda cool.”
Joy is one of 11 members of the all-girl Knitting Club at George Nettels, a group created shortly after spring break to accommodate what had quickly become a growing interest in the activity. Spearheading the effort was Charity Lempenau, a para-educator, who is among the school’s finest knitters.
“We were working on a class project that involved sewing, and I asked the girls if any of them had ever knitted before,” she said. “A couple of them said yes, and I asked them if they wanted to have a knitting club. They did, and here we are.”
The group meets every week at least once, sometimes twice depending on the availability of the students. Fifth-grade teacher Linda Runyan hosts the group in her room, and is also a willful participant in the lessons. She said that while knitting is the ultimate lesson, the students learn more than just how to turn a ball of yarn into a scarf.
“There is also some math involved,” she said. “Anytime you are doing something like knitting or like sewing, you are always going to be helping your math skills.”
But perhaps most importantly for the members, the group combines the enjoyment of learning a new skill with the opportunity to become better friends.
“It’s fun for us,” said student Logan Lord. “It’s just us girls after school knitting and talking. We have a lot of fun.”
Morgan Burns, who first learned to knit two years ago, said the main appeal of the group is that it’s simply “something to do.”
“I like it because it’s different and it’s a good time,” she said.
While the group is for girls only, Lempenau said she tried to form a group for boys, but got few takers.
“I told the boys that if they could get at least four or five that wanted to join, then we’d have a boys group,” she said. “There just didn’t seem to be a lot of interest on their side.”
She said that if any of the boys wanted to join the girls group now, she’d let them. The girls, however, would rather keep it the way it is.
“It’s kind of nice just to get away from the boys for a while and have fun with just girls,” Joy said.
While all of the members will leave Nettels after this school year to head to the middle school, most all of them said they would continue to hone their knitting skills.
“You have to keep practicing, or you’ll forget everything,” Lord said.
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Before this spring, knitting was not a skill that Olivia Joy thought she’d ever desire to learn — at least not for quite a few decades.
“I thought it was something only for old people,” Joy, a fifth-grade student at George Nettels Elementary School, said. “Something for people who were already retired.”
Of course, she didn’t know at the time that in just a few weeks knitting would bring her — well, her last name — joy.
“Now I think it’s a lot of fun,” she said. “It’s kinda cool.”
Joy is one of 11 members of the all-girl Knitting Club at George Nettels, a group created shortly after spring break to accommodate what had quickly become a growing interest in the activity. Spearheading the effort was Charity Lempenau, a para-educator, who is among the school’s finest knitters.
“We were working on a class project that involved sewing, and I asked the girls if any of them had ever knitted before,” she said. “A couple of them said yes, and I asked them if they wanted to have a knitting club. They did, and here we are.”
The group meets every week at least once, sometimes twice depending on the availability of the students. Fifth-grade teacher Linda Runyan hosts the group in her room, and is also a willful participant in the lessons. She said that while knitting is the ultimate lesson, the students learn more than just how to turn a ball of yarn into a scarf.
“There is also some math involved,” she said. “Anytime you are doing something like knitting or like sewing, you are always going to be helping your math skills.”
But perhaps most importantly for the members, the group combines the enjoyment of learning a new skill with the opportunity to become better friends.
“It’s fun for us,” said student Logan Lord. “It’s just us girls after school knitting and talking. We have a lot of fun.”
Morgan Burns, who first learned to knit two years ago, said the main appeal of the group is that it’s simply “something to do.”
“I like it because it’s different and it’s a good time,” she said.
While the group is for girls only, Lempenau said she tried to form a group for boys, but got few takers.
“I told the boys that if they could get at least four or five that wanted to join, then we’d have a boys group,” she said. “There just didn’t seem to be a lot of interest on their side.”
She said that if any of the boys wanted to join the girls group now, she’d let them. The girls, however, would rather keep it the way it is.
“It’s kind of nice just to get away from the boys for a while and have fun with just girls,” Joy said.
While all of the members will leave Nettels after this school year to head to the middle school, most all of them said they would continue to hone their knitting skills.
“You have to keep practicing, or you’ll forget everything,” Lord said.
