Wednesday, November 22, 2006

A fond farewell to my knitting group

This fall I started a knitting group at the school. I had no idea how it would be received when I put the announcement in the student's bulletin, but was hugely surprised when eleven students and my co-worker showed up the first day for the planning meeting! The group was evenly split with half of the students never having even set eyes upon knitting needles and half with some experience.

We were to meet every second Monday at lunch, but one of my students, M, became quickly obsessed with knitting and came to see me every day for the first two weeks for help. She'd say, "I need help! I broke my knitting!" I would spend the next few minutes fixing whatever was "broken" and chatting with her and another member K, who always accompanied her. I think it was more about the chatting then the fixing the knitting somedays. M perservered throughout September and October making two blanket blocks (club requirement - they had to make at least one block for Blankets for Canada before they could go onto another project), three scarves and numerous bracelets for herself.

When I announced to the group two weeks ago that I was going to be leaving the school to take another job, they set to work planning a surprise party for me! With the help of my co-worker, they surprised me with cupcakes, brownies, chips, soft drinks and tiny sandwiches at lunch yesterday. M had even knit two bright streamers for the window of my office and wrote a poem for me!

It's amazing how something I started just because I love to knit turned into something that really touched the lives of these kids. I had a real cross section of students in the group, from the top marks to the kids that are in resource, from grade ten through twelve, yet they all connected and got to know each other.

I'm really going to miss my group of knitters! As I pack up my things and get ready to leave to start my new job at the university, I bid each of my knitters a very fond farewell and hope we'll meet again someday!

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