Old Crafts Finding New Practitioners

By Laurie Borst

“All the crafts are finding renewed interest; knitting, crocheting, and sewing, also,” said Virginia Zimmerman as ten girls sat around her with knitting needles flying.

The 7- to 11-year-olds were at Head O’ Meadow School the last two weeks in July for the SMART program run by Newtown Continuing Education. The class was taught by Ms Zimmerman, who is an art teacher in Fairfield.

The two-week session began with teaching the students to cast on, the process of preparing a knitting needle to start creating a useful item. Younger students begin with “kitty cat needles.”

These needles are designed for the beginning knitter. The caps on the ends have pictures of cats — hence, the name. The needles are color-coded, one red, one blue, which makes it easier for the instructor to give directions. The needles are also a little stickier than regular needles, which helps prevent dropped stitches.

After casting on, the girls learned to knit, then purl, and waffle stitch, which they use to make a scarf or doll blanket. More advanced students learned cable stitching. When the scarf or blanket reached the desired length, the skill of “casting off” is taught, which finishes the edge of the piece.

This was the third year Ms Zimmerman has presented the knitting workshop. Each year, the class has enjoyed a full roster of ten students.

High school student Genevieve Mulvaney is Ms Zimmerman’s aide, as she knows how to knit. Ms Zimmerman laughed, remembering how the aides did not know how to knit when she first started and she had to teach them as well as the students.

Students who had done some knitting before this class had the opportunity to make hats using a circular needle. They learned the additional skill of increasing and decreasing stitches, which involves placing markers on the needles. After completing the hat, each girl created a pompom to adorn the top.

A sense of camaraderie filled the room as the girls knit and chatted.

“It’s like a women’s circle, like a quilting circle,” Ms Zimmerman stated. “We knit, talk, have snack.”

The young women had a variety of reasons for taking the class.

Clare McKinley, who has two aunts who knit, thought it would be fun to learn. She made a scarf for her Webkin.

Laura Hornby’s grandmother knits and she wanted to learn how. Molly Wilson says she’s good at knitting. The hat is the most complicated item she has made.

“I knew I’d be making things I’d never made before,” said Aleah Sussman. “It’s amazing what you can do with a ball of yarn.”

Bethany Dubois said, “I tried to knit before, but never committed to it really. I took class so I’d have a big block of time to knit.”

“This would be good to do in my free time,” Rachel Maguire offered. “I would like to make a big blanket, out of knitted squares.”

Cleo Fellows-Conk did not think she would ever get a chance to knit. “I wanted to learn something people have done for hundreds of years. It’s fun. My two friends knit and now I can knit with them.”

“I like sewing, so I wanted to do knitting,” said Erin Tressler. “I really want to make a scarf.”

Emily Toby said, “My brother had done this before. He said it was fun and it really is. First, we learned to knit, then purl, then waffle. I made a potholder.”

Rounding out the class was Grace Svensen, who happened to be absent this particular day.

Several of the girls expressed the desire to take the course again next year.