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Knitting looms large as hobby at Sullivan Elementary School

Published May 29th, 2006 | 2 Comments

Sarah Collins trims a cap for a newborn at Sullivan Elementary School. Sarah, along with her classmates Hunter Hardin, Jennifer Gladson, Taylor Snook and Erica Martin, help knit caps for hospitals. Photo by David Grace.

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KINGSPORT - What started out as a way to relieve stress and jitters before high-stakes testing has become all the rage at Sullivan Elementary School this year.

In classrooms during downtime, in the cafeteria at lunchtime, anywhere they could find time. That's where you'd see them - pick in hand, round loom and yarn strategically placed in front of them, knitting.

"It caught on like wildfire," said fifth-grader Taylor Shook.

"You would see kids out on the playground doing it. You'd see them doing it at lunch and everything," fifth-grader Sarah Collins added.

Guidance counselor Debby Butler won a set of the round looms in a drawing and decided to introduce the craft, which dates back to the 1700s, to her students during Sullivan's annual Pioneer Day festivities.

"I let everybody in the class try it, and what happened was everybody wanted to do more and more," Butler said.

When Butler found some sets on sale at half price, Principal Katie Litz allowed her to purchase some of the looms for students to use as a stress reliever during the annual Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) testing period. Using donated yarn, students started looming, and it took off - "like wildfire."

"We'd let them do it to relax in between, and I didn't have enough looms. They were lining up, wanting them," Butler said.

To be fair, Butler started checking them out to students who'd work with a loom for a while and then return it for another student to borrow. The catch was, and remained through the end of the school year, students had to earn the chance to work with the looms. They had to have all of their schoolwork finished, maintain good grades, meet Accelerated Reader goals, and have been on their best behavior in class before they could check out or, once the trend caught on, pull out their own personal looms to knit.

"It really wasn't easy. But once you got the hang of it, after you made one, you just wanted to make more and more," fifth-grader Erica Martin said.

Students say they loom knit in the car, while they watch TV, or just sitting around the table talking with their friends.

"It's fun. It gives me something to do instead of watching TV and stuff," said fifth-grader Hunter Harbin, one of the boys who mastered the craft.

Before long, students were knitting hats, scarves, cell phone covers, purses, pillow cases and belts. One parent, taught by her fifth-grade daughter Jennifer Gladson, even created a backpack. But mostly, it was hats. Lots and lots of hats. Bright-colored, light-colored, solid, striped, even camouflage.

It became so popular that Sarah challenged her classmates to put their newly learned skills and pioneer spirit to work crafting gifts for some of the newest members of the Kingsport community. The challenge: Create 100 baby hats for local hospitals in a week's time.

"I was at church, and I had shown some baby hats to my Awana group and (one of the adults) said the hospital was always needing baby hats," Sarah recalled.

So, for a few days, Sarah thought it over and then approached four fifth-grade friends who had also caught the knitting bug. Together, they started working to create baby hats. Sarah spoke to classes, wrote a newsletter and invited fourth-graders to join their quest to create 100 baby hats in a week's time. With the deadline looming last Friday, students took inventory of the hats they'd collected.

91, 92, 93, 94...

"It's really been a group effort," Taylor said. "A lot of people just made one, but it still helped."

95, 96, 97 ... 105.

Thanks to Sarah, Taylor, Hunter, Jennifer and Erica - who each made a dozen or more - and lots of other Sullivan fourth- and fifth-graders, they surpassed their goal.

And without even knowing it, Butler explained, students learned from learning the craft.

"You have to follow instructions and, I think, it helps on concentration," Butler said. "And I like the fact that you see all of the students helping other kids learn. It's like tutoring or mentoring almost. When they learn something new, a new technique, they share it, and it creates a lot of social skills."

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Awesome! It's great to see the kids using the looms. Okay, adults, this really isn't a kids-only hobby. If you've always wanted to knit but were intimidated by the "chopstick" needles, try a loom. You really can do just about everything on them. The plastic looms are just the beginning of what's available and hats are great, but you can do soooooo much more! http://knitforjoy.blogspot.com

Cindy Abernethy | 5/30/2006 - 7:22 PM - ( Comment

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This is great!!! Loom knitting and regular knitting are great ways to help kids focus and these guys took it a step further!! Bravo guys! And keep up the good work..From the Author of Learn to Knit on Circle Looms..Denise Layman

Denise Layman | 5/30/2006 - 2:22 PM - ( Comment

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