When you think of knitting, what do you think of? Balls of yarn, rocking chairs, cookies baking in the oven…grandmothers? You don’t think of high school, but that’s going to change with the new Knitting Club at St. Charles High. It’s a brand new club created by English teacher Kayla Gilmore.

“I am an avid knitter and I thought it’d be really cool if some kids would be able to do this after school and help teach kids some new concepts, some new hobbies,” Gilmore said. “I already had the needles from a previous district where I was the knitting club sponsor.” 

However, for some Knitting Club members, knitting is something that they have been considering for some time. One of these members is junior Julia Villa.

“I think, well, I’ve had this interest in knitting and crocheting for a while now, and I just wanted to be that person who could say, ‘Oh my god, I just bought a pattern off of Etsy, look at this, it’s so cute,’” Villa said. 

Other members, such as junior Krystal Roeper-Mokriakow, were more interested in the crocheting side of the club.

“I was always very interested in crochet, because my mom crochets, so I was just like, ‘This would be a great opportunity to learn from someone else besides my mom and actually be able to learn,’” Roeper-Mokriakow said. 

Since a new club hasn’t been created at St. Charles High for some time, it may have been unclear on how to start one. However, Gilmore knew just what to do. 

“The first step would be to talk to Mr. Owens, he’s the Activities Director, I said, ‘I’m interested in doing this, we don’t have one already,’” Gilmore said.“He gave me a form to fill out, how many times we’d meet, what does our constitution look like, what kind of kids are interested, how will this help fulfill our mission at SCHS.”

Soon after the creation and advertisement of the club, students interested in Knitting Club began to join, and they have enjoyed their experiences so far.

“I think we have nice people in the Knitting Club, as the year progresses I hope more people keep joining, and that at least my own personal skills in knitting and crocheting will grow,” Villa said.

Although the first week of the club was difficult, Knitting Club members have been working hard to improve their skills.

“The first week was terrible, the first week kids were struggle bussin’, kids were freaking out. I just said, ‘stick with it, keep trying for 10 minutes, 20 minutes, just keep going and doing what you’re doing,’” Gilmore said.

However, at the next meetings, the Knitting Club members had seen improvement.

“And at our second meeting, kids kept coming back and saying ‘oh my gosh I started making this’ and they pulled it out and it [the knitting project] was like a foot long and they were like ‘oh my god it looks the way it’s supposed to,’” Gilmore said.

Members themselves have begun to notice that their skills have been improving as well.

“When I first learned how to knit, it was awful. So using the tactics that they taught me, I made something better, and now I can get a little strip in knitting,” Roeper-Mokriakow said.

Knitting Club members are also allowed to bring home tools to help them practice, such as knitting needles and yarn.

“Before Knitting Club I didn’t dive into anything, I didn’t look at videos, I didn’t purchase anything, so Mrs. Gilmore allowed us to take home a yarn ball and knitting needles, I think that really helps us practice beyond the hour we have the club for, I think that’s really helpful,” Villa said.

Gilmore has high hopes for the future of Knitting Club, and she hopes to use it to give towards those who need it the most.

  “I would really like to do some things like knitting things for people in the community, one of the things I did at my old district was knitting hats for premature children,” Gilmore said.

The Knitting Club at St. Charles High has a bright future, and it will hopefully produce more nifty knitting students.