Knitting Girl by the Window, by Albert Anker
I have a lovely story to share with you and thought it would be nice to share today, the day before Thanksgiving.
About a month ago, one day at work, we got a call from a teacher at a local school. The school has a Knitting Club, and he wanted to bring them on a field trip to the yarn shop, since most of them had never been to one. They were originally meant to visit last week, but had to reschedule to Monday of this week.
So they arrived on Monday, around 1:30 in the afternoon - about 30 kids, grades 4 to 6. The group was a mix of boys and girls, and the teacher in charge of the group was a really wonderful young man. Laura, the manager of the shop, talked to them for a few minutes, telling them about the shop and briefly about running a yarn store, and then they all had a chance to buy a skein of yarn, which their teacher would pay for (!!!) before they went back to school.
As you can imagine, they were very excited to choose yarn, and fascinated by seeing it wound into cakes. But these kids were wonderful - they were truly nice kids, you could tell - not just kids being nice because they knew they would be in trouble otherwise, you know what I mean? They had no problem talking to adults, and they had lots of really great questions.
After they left, it was agreed that the entire experience was a positive one - and face it, you can't always say that after a group visits anywhere, whether they are kids or adults, right??
But one thing was especially lovely to me. There was a young girl waiting to have her yarn wound, and she just looked so very familiar to me. I finally said to her, "I think I know you, have you come in here before?" and she said, "No, but you look familiar to me, too. Aren't you Hamlet's mom?" I realized then that I did in fact know her, but she was out of context, just like I was for her! I said, "Oh you're Isabelle, who I always see walking your dog Wilbur along with your mom Clare!" And she was *thrilled* that I knew her! I think it was not only because we figured out who each other were, but also because she was singled out from her classmates. I heard one boy say to her that it was cool she knew one of the people at the yarn store. 😀
I will admit that it was bittersweet, because our Hammy isn't still here with us, but I was so glad that someone who knew him still thought about him as well.
It seemed like a wonderful way to start the week of Thanksgiving.
7 comments:
What a sweet story! For some crazy reason, one year my principal made me teach third grade. I usually teach first grade so the age jump was hard for me to deal with. I started a recess knitting and quilting club and the majority of the kids involved were boys. They loved to knit and I still have the quilt we made together. There should be more of this in schools. Behaviors and attention spans improved dramatically with the kids who got to sit and quietly craft for 30 minutes every day.
Awww - that's sweet on so many levels
That's a terrific story. How nice of that teacher to encourage a knitting club and how nice of your store to take part. You guys should pass on any yarn you don't use/sell to that group. It is a skill they can use forever!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Oh, Bridget. I love absolutely everything about this story: that it was younger kids, that the school has a Knitting Club, that boys are in the club, that the teacher took them on a field trip and either he or club funds paid for their yarn, that the adviser of the club is male, and that Hamlet was the connection to a member of the group. It's all simply wonderful. What a terrific day.
One of the really special (if frustrating!) times I've had over the past few years is teaching a whole school of newly-arrived migrant kids to knit. Most of them are refugees and are such polite, thankful people. We shared many laughs and, while most have probably not knitted since, a couple have shown me proudly their newly created items.
Sounds like a lovely group of kids. and I can't believe the teacher bought a skein of oyarn for EACH of them!!!
I love it! In our old neighborhood I was known as Pilot's mom to all the little kids.
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