On Wednesday nights in the Olds Residence lobby, you can hear the sound of knitting needles clicking. Hillsdale’s latest club meets every Wednesday at 8 p.m. to knit.
The Hillsdale Knitting Club is the brainchild of senior Rachael Kurtz, who taught herself to knit last semester. Junior Jessica Hurley is another knitter of the club and has been knitting since she was seven.
“I decided to learn how to knit right before fall break and went on YouTube and learned how to knit in like five minutes and then went on a swim meet and was knitting the whole time and just kept saying ‘I’m a knitter now. I can make a knitting club,’” Kurtz said. “Everyone I talked to thought it was a great idea.”
Freshman Mehgan Cain was also involved in the start of the club. She taught one of Kurtz’s teammates from the swim team how to knit at the same time as Kurtz was teaching herself. Cain has been knitting since grade school.
“I learned when I was a kid,” Cain said. “My mom taught me as a fun thing to do when you’re too old for coloring books and you don’t want to read chapter books.”
When this semester started, Kurtz decided to go ahead and give her idea a try.
“At first it was kind of a joke but then I decided I should actually do it,” Kurtz said. “It’s not official. I still have to find an adviser and I don’t have a form filled out yet.”
Kurtz will put her idea before Student Federation to see if the club could get funded by the college.
“Once we become an official club, we want to be able to get our yarn paid for by the school,” Kurtz said. “Then that way, we can donate everything we make to Salvation Army in the winter or just sell it in the spring and donate all the proceeds.”
The knitting club will also be a way to de-stress and give back. Other girls from all across campus are joining in on Wednesday nights.
“There are a lot of knitters in Chi O and my Big [Kurtz] is the one who started it,” Hurley said.
If you’d like to knit but don’t know how, you’re welcome to come to the knitting club and learn. Knitters of all experience levels are welcome.