PETERSBURG, Mich. Working long needles between his tiny fingers to loop yarn, Garrett Linenkugel said learning to knit was as much fun as playing LocoRoco2 on his PlayStation Portable.
Garrett is among the participants in the Needle Arts Mentoring Program at Petersburg-Summerfield Branch Library.
The six-week program, which is a project of the national Helping Hands Foundation, Inc., focuses on community partnerships to promote and encourage relationships between adults and youth, fostering curiosity and a feeling of achievement through the teaching of needle arts, said Doris Sheldon, branch librarian.
Petersburg resident and long-time knitter Leann Cottrell was asked to direct the volunteer program after the librarian saw her knitting in the branch library one day.
The idea behind the program to gather kids and adults in the community to learn the skill of knitting, Mrs. Cottrell said, adding that the two age groups get to do an enjoyable activity together that is relaxing.
Mrs. Cottrell assembled a cast of local women who are experienced in the craft. The volunteers are each willing to take on two students for the weekly one-hour program, showing them the ins and outs of knitting.
The first project that the youngsters undertook was making a yarn bookmark. They will move on to making seven-by-seven inch squares that will be knitted into an afghan to be donated to a community shelter.
The final knitting experience will have the youngsters making an item of their choice. It will be something that they can keep for themselves, like mittens or scarf, Mrs. Cottrell said.
Garrett, a third-grader, appeared to be a natural despite presenting a challenge to his instructor Teresa Jaeger because he is left handed.
He is picking up knitting very easily, said Mrs. Jaeger. He is left handed but he is knitting right handed. He is a very smart young man.
Garrett s mother, Marylynn Linenkugel, who took the opportunity to follow the knitting tips from Mrs. Jaeger, was happy that her son was learning the skill.
Anything that is not electronic is wonderful for him to learn, she said. I think knitting builds self confidence in that the children learn something and they make something.
About seven women who got a tutorial in how the program works came out last week to mentor the young girls and boys.
Mrs. LaRee of Petersburg, who is a retired Summerfield elementary teacher, taught most of the volunteers in a community class at the high school that she taught.
I think I taught most of these women here how to knit, she said.
She took up knitting after learning the craft from her husband, who picked it up as a young boy, learning how to knit from his grandmother.
Knitting gets more interesting as you begin to make more things, she said.
Jamie Black, 13, who was Mrs. LaRee s student in the library program, was catching on in making the long needles turn yarn into something wearable.
It is pretty easy, the teenager said.
First Published March 31, 2009, 7:41 p.m.
