It is a late September night, and Floren Feng (11) is still working diligently at his desk. He is working on neither homework nor college applications, but instead crocheting. The soft yarn moves seamlessly through his hook, creativity flowing easily. After a while, Feng has finally created a blue whale stuffed animal. That’s not the only thing he created in September, however; with two other people, he created the Crochet Club.

Floren Feng, Allen Xie (12) and Fields Bell (12) created the Crochet Club this school year. The club holds meetings every Tuesday in their sponsor Mrs. Wong’s room. Xie noticed Wong crocheting during class in the past school year and quickly gained a great interest in it. Along with Wong’s influence on her students, crocheting also became popular during the pandemic. A main reason for the popularity of crochet is its tranquility and easy to learn process. 

“[Crocheting] is complicated and intimidating at first, but it’s really fun once you get into it and actually learn how to stitch,” Scarlett Niu (9) said.

The Crochet Club breaks their meetings up into two halves to make it more relaxing. The first half includes a lesson to teach members how to crochet a specific item. The second half is essentially free time, which gives members the opportunity to practice what they learned and ask questions. 

“The crochet club is a little bit different because it’s more of a creative club rather than the plethora of academic clubs that we have here,” Xie said. “It’s nothing too serious, it’s more for enjoyment but also to fill that urge of creativity. It’s great for people who like to work with their hands and make things.”

The lessons at the beginning of each meeting serve to teach those new to crocheting. The founders understand that many students may not have experience with crocheting but still are interested in it. The meetings are set up to make the process as easy as possible. 

“[The club] is open to any experience level,” Feng said, “We ask crocheters to get their own hook if they want to crochet outside of the club, but inside we have all the materials.”

Along with the unconventional meeting schedule, the Crochet Club also has unique plans for their projects: they hope to donate crocheted goods to shelters and organizations. The club is hoping to contact and send crocheted items to local places, such as St. Jude and the Humane Society.

“Because of the nature of the club, we’re going to have projects that we’re going to be making throughout the year, and we had a surprising amount of people that have showed interest and have attended meetings for the club,” Xie said. “With all the excess projects … if people don’t want to keep them, then we just thought it would be a very great idea … to give it to people who actually need them.”

The founders encourage anyone interested to practice crocheting in general. During meetings, lessons and supplies are provided, giving beginners a good opportunity to learn the basics. One of Crochet Club’s main goals is to help all levels of crocheters expand their skill set, whether it be crocheting a sweater or learning how to tie a slipknot.

“A good place to start would just be to grab a hook, grab some yarn and start making stuff,” Xie said, “If you don’t try, you won’t do anything.”