Anyone who has ever coached a sports team, or run a club for children, knows that the benefits of clubs and teams extend far beyond the actual sport or activity. Such is the case with our school knitting club.

Poor Sierra. Not only was she struggling with a new language in a new country but her particular special needs had given her facial characteristics that did not endear her to other children. Very prominent teeth, thick glasses that almost hid her eyes from view, and a lack of social graces, meant that Sierra spent her recesses alone, or walking with the teacher for company. The schoolground is a tough place for a student who is different.

Every Friday noon hour however, Sierra had a community to hang with and a place to belong. She attended the Knitting Club faithfully every week. She’d have attended every day if it was possible. Learning to knit was very difficult for Sierra but she persevered. If ‘perseverance’ was her middle name than ‘patience’ had to be mine. We repeated the steps again and again, week after week. I detangled masses of yarn and cast on for her scarf at least 25 times. The day she mastered the stitch and completed a whole row on her own was cause for great celebration within our little group! While needles clicked busily around the room, she also learned the finer points of social interaction. Through the easily flowing chatter of girls and boys involved in a common project, her English, and her confidence, improved. At the end of the year she took home a scarf she’d made for her mother, and so much more. She was entering Junior High after she left our school. I do hope they’ll be kind to her and exercise a little extra patience.

The mother-less students are always attracted to our knitting club as well, and we have more of them at our school than you might expect. Boys and girls alike join up as much for the opportunity to hang out with us women as to learn to knit. Nothing is forced, nothing is planned as far as counseling or intervention. Each week we knit, and chat, and spend time together. In this space the laughter and the healing follow naturally.

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”

The Dalai Lama

Posted in classroom, knitting