Knitting

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Chicago Students Learn More than Knitting in Fiber Clubs

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teen knitting clubs chicagoI really enjoyed this story from the Chicago Tribune about knitting and fiber arts clubs for high school students.

KnitLAB and BT Lives in the Stitch are projects in North Lawndale where students are paid to produce hand-crafted items and at the same time get a sense of community and pride in creating things that’s a contrast to the chaotic neighborhoods in which they live.

Some students say they thought knitting would be boring, and that it was hard at first, but they like being able to make things instead of buying them, and they like having their friends ask them to make things.

Teachers and art therapists say making is important for teens because it gives them autonomy in creating things, and the process of knitting is comforting, as we all know.

I think it’s awesome that these programs exist and wish more kids had the opportunity to learn knitting and other crafts in school.

Do any of your local schools have knitting programs? I’d love to hear about them.

[Photo by John J. Kim, Chicago Tribune.]

Comments

  1. The article sounds interesting, unfortunately I can’t access it without a subscription to the Tribune. I’d like to learn more about it, are there any other sources?

  2. Our university has a knitting society which does volunteer knitting, such as blankets for the elderly and preemie knits… it’s a great way to get students both socialising with likeminded people, and also to support their community!

Have you read?

Knit a Log Cabin Blanket with All Your Scraps

I guess I must have had this pattern on my mind, because I had chosen this log cabin blanket recipe to write about, promptly forgot about it and a couple of weeks later started knitting a log cabin blanket using all my pink yarn. 

It might stay pink if it makes it to baby blanket sized, or I might add in some pastel green and blue, too, to make a bigger blanket. We’ll see. I’m also holding several strands of yarn together to make a kind of bulky yarn, which means it’s deeply satisfying how much yarn is used even as the project is still relatively small. 

In Kristen Finlay’s version, DK weight yarn scraps (or fingering/sock yarn held double) are used to make a simple scrappy log cabin blanket that’s lighter weight than my version. Log cabin is a great technique for knitters of any skill level because it’s worked in garter stitch. The only not completely basic technique you need for log cabin knitting is picking up stitches. 

If you’ve never worked a log cabin knitting project before, this is a good introduction, and it is really nice to use all your yarn scraps in one big project you’ll use for years to come. 

If you use a lot of DK weight yarn you can keep building on it whenever you finish a project, or if you use more worsted weight you can do the same thing with it, it will just be a little bigger starting out than the pattern calls for. How big it gets is totally up to you. 

I have really been enjoying working on my log cabin project, and it’s my current sitting at my desk and need a break knit (do you have one of those or is it just me?). 

Ready to start your own log cabin blanket knitting project? You can grab the free pattern from Kristen Finlay on Ravelry. 

Need more log cabin inspiration? Check out more log cabin knitting patterns. 

[Photo: Kristen Finlay]