I joined a knitting club. But it's not the knitting club you might expect. It has beginners and almost-beginners and some well on their way to finishing beautiful projects, but there is something a little different about this group... mostly that the average age of the members is roughly six to ten years old. It's the knitting club at my daughter's school.
I can't even tell you how excited I was as I waited in the hallway for lunch to begin today. A total geek, clutching my knitting bag and the extra needles and yarn to share with the group. I was blown away by how many kids were there, all sitting around tables in tiny chairs, mounds of yarn in front of them, clutching their bare needles, excited by the possibilities. Some of them have been knitting you know, "for a really long time." Some had picked it up "just recently again" since their Grandmothers had taught them. Some had never picked up a pair of sticks in their life.
There was the usual chatter you'd hear at any good knitting club. "Why are knitting needles so pointy" and, "I really like cats." I settled in on a chair and started casting on for some of the kids and knit and talked the entire lunch hour. I would say the only thing really missing was a bottle of wine or four on the table... but I think that would be deemed innapprpriate and I don't think I'd be invited back.
While talking to my Mom excitedly at approximately 1:02 PM (she is a faithful fellow knitter and will be joining us sometimes) she mentioned how neat it was that here were these kids doing something that has been done by groups of ladies (and men) for hundreds of years. It is really neat. That even in the modern child's world saturated with electronic entertainment and the instant gratification of technology, here is this group of kids, sitting around a table making knots on sticks, talking and laughing and learning, just like their Moms, just like their Grandmas, and all the other generations before.
By the end of the class I think almost every kid was really actually knitting. We're making scarves for those who might need a little handmade winter warmth this year. There was even talk of a little yarn bombing. I think I found the best knitting club I could have ever hoped for.
Frankie in Knitting Club
