Caledonia — Crocheting is making a comeback among students at Kraft Meadows Intermediate School.
Olive Roush, who will be a seventh-grader this fall, wanted to create a space where she could hang out with friends after school and learn new things together.
She approached one of her favorite teachers at Kraft, Rebecca Sowerby, earlier this spring and inquired about starting a club to help teach her classmates how to crochet.
Sowerby said Olive’s idea grew from a concept to a club literally overnight.
“Within 24 hours of posting a sign-up sheet, the club reached full capacity,” Sowerby said. “After the first month, the club became a hub of creativity, collaboration and skill-building.”
Family and friends of the 25 students who signed up for the crochet club donated beginner kits from The Woobles company to help the novice crocheters get off on the right stitch.
“Some people picked up on it super-fast and some people still don’t get it,” Olive said. “Most of us work on animals like The Woobles or look up YouTube videos.”
Students continued to bring in their own kits and materials from home and shared yarn, crochet hooks and creative ideas. Sowbery said she didn’t want a financial barrier to exist for students who wanted to learn, so they continued to collect donated materials.
Rising sixth-grader Jamieson Harder said, “I never tried crocheting before the club, but it sounded cool and I thought I’d give it a try. Now it’s one of my favorite hobbies.”
Classmate Annabel said learning to crochet was tricky at first, but attending the club meetings helped her get better.
“The first time I crocheted, it took me forever and I was getting stuck but then it clicked and I can go really fast,” the rising sixth-grader said.
Creating a Career in Crochet
Olive said crocheting has been her favorite hobby since she learned from her grandma when she was eight years old. There was just one snag.
“One of my grandmas crocheted all the time and I asked if I could learn and she taught me how, but she’s left-handed, so I had to go to my other grandma for extra help,” she said.
Thanks to both matriarchs and their years of crocheting knowledge, Olive started by making squares, evolving into blankets and squares. Watching YouTube videos helped Olive learn how to elevate her skills from basic projects to crocheting animal plushies with little eyes and big personalities.
She started taking orders from friends for her crocheted chickens and even created her own business, Yarnify by Olive.
“I have a lot of orders right now and I’ve been doing some birthday presents,” Olive said. “They have to pay me for the plushies but if it’s their birthday, I don’t charge.”
When she grows up, Olive said she aspires to be a crochet artist as well as a zookeeper.
Sowerby, an avid crocheter herself, credited Olive in becoming the teacher in her classroom.
She said Olive “floats around the room” to help students start projects, fix mistakes, encourage new skills and complete projects during club meetings.
“Seeing them go from not even knowing how to hold a crochet hook to finding their own patterns and making their own stuff has been amazing,” Sowerby said. “I had Olive in class and had no idea how talented she is; she’s a better teacher than I am. … These kids are so capable and smart and willing to try something new. We are all learning and now they’re all friends.”
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