Sophomore Sonja Cook describes herself as a process knitter, someone who knits just to knit and doesn’t necessarily finish projects. She said she has multiple sweaters she’s started but may never finish. If Cook is stressed, she starts a new knitting project. In light note-taking classes, knitting helps her pay attention, and most professors don’t mind.
She can knit almost anything and often uses elaborate pattern designs. One of her prouder accomplishments is a holographic green and black stripped scarf. When tilted at an angle, it reveals six alternating black and green alien faces.
Cook learned the old tradition of knitting in an after-school program during sixth grade. The kids participated in different workshops that lasted a few weeks at a time.
“I thought, ‘this is the worst thing to ever happen to me. I don’t want to spend my afternoons knitting,’” Cook said.
After that, Cook didn’t pick up knitting again until high school when a visit with her aunt –– who also knits –– encouraged her to pick the woolen art back up again. She said she and hasn’t stopped since.
“By Sonja’s hands, we all stay warm,” sophomore Anna Chuslo said.
Cook has taught several people to knit, including one male student and her own grandmother. She’s made many friends through her hobby as well. While knitting during a freshman orientation lecture her first year at Hillsdale College, another girl approached Cook and said, “You’re knitting! We should have lunch.”
Cook taught another friend, sophomore Rachel Yerke, to knit their freshman year and Yerke has progressed very far.
“I came here and thought, ‘It’s college, I’ll try something new,’” Yerke said. “So I picked up knitting and Sonja taught me. My first scarf went horrendously.”
Cook laughingly agreed that Yerke’s first scarf was terrible, but said, “No one is great when they start.”
Yerke quickly improved and knitted several scarves, hats, cowls, fingerless gloves, and is attempting a sweater. Currently her cousin is expecting a baby, so Yerke is knitting a pair of booties, a little hat, and baby blanket for her.
Chuslo, Cook’s newest student, is now attempting her first knitted scarf. Formerly a crocheter, Chuslo struggles not to fall back into her old habits. She said it’s easier to transition from crocheting to knitting than vice versa. Cook has a hard time with crocheting.
Cook is from northern California and said that knitting is a popular hobby for Hollywood stars and has been reinvented as a new fad for young people. She explained the revival of knitting really started in New York with organization of groups called “Stitch and Bitch.”
“So groups of women get together every week, pick a night of the week, and just stitch and bitch,” Cook said. “It was this whole sort of movement away from grandmothers knitting sweaters and into young people, 20-something-year olds. It started in the early 2000s, and you see people knitting now everywhere.”
Cook said some great places to find patterns are Ravelry.com, Knitty.com, and knitting books from the library. And when it comes to yarn, there is no lack of variety. While the Hollywood stars knit with expensive silk or yarn with gold spun into it, Cook mostly uses wool or acrylic yarn.
Sometimes Cook even spins and dyes her own yarn with the homemade drop spindle her father designed from a broken chair back.
“I’m a poor college student, so I use Kool-Aid or food coloring instead of the nice yarn dyes,” she said.
After all the work Cook puts into her knitting from start to finish, it’s sometimes difficult to give her prized possessions away because non-knitters don’t always appreciate her works of art. She also gave a good warning for all knitters.
“There is actually a myth that you can’t knit for your boyfriend or husband, especially a sweater,” Cook said. “Because you put a lot of work into them, and you expect them to be really excited about it. And if they aren’t, you get really let down and bad feelings ensue. So don’t knit your boyfriend a sweater.”
tknopf@hillsdale.edu
