Smitten for Knittin'
Let me talk about the best night of my week so far. I spent Tuesday with a bunch of awesome people who like to help out other people. “How do they do it?” you ask? Well, they knit. And crochet. For a cause.
The gathering happens every Tuesday from 7 to 8:30. People start trickling into the Pass it Along center in the Sparta Fit for Life building, until the 5 couches, assorted chairs, and students working on their knitting, crocheting, or looming projects occupy pretty much all of the available floor space. All of these aspiring fiber artists are working to create things that will keep people in need warm this cold New Jersey winter, that will welcome newborn babies into the world, and will benefit children in a children’s hospital. What could be more worthwhile than that?
The hour passes in a flash of knitting needles, crochet hooks, and yards and yards of yarn. Myself, a self-described knitting moron, received superb instruction from a high school student who was nice enough to “cast on” for me—the technical term for the prep steps necessary as one begins a new knitting project. Under this excellent tutelage, I was able to make something recognizable as the start of a scarf by the end of the night. I can actually say that I surprised myself (which doesn’t happen often).
With what I saw today, Knit and Crochet contains the following: Good music, good people, and a great cause. Even though today was kind of a long day, I am looking forward to next week’s K&C program already.
If you decide to join us, you may consider bringing your own chair, cushion or alternate seating device. With so many attendees, seats on the couches are usually pretty tight! (A willingness to learn and a desire to help others wouldn’t hurt, either).
–Maren Morsch, AmeriCorps Program Associate