In former years, the Granada High School Crochet Club has suffered a great loss in participants, down to usually ranging from four to five active members at most. As we step into the brand new 2023-2024 school year, students are filled with both excitement and anticipation for what is to come this year, we also welcome new members into our beloved club, welcoming a diverse amount of people from different age groups and of all levels of experience.
Our first club meeting of the year was held on Tuesday, August 29, 2023. Admittedly, when I stepped into the room and sat down, I had not been expecting the door to continuously swing open and for so many students to step in, all ready and eager to begin working with our club. We eventually found ourselves gazing at a nearly packed classroom, which was a drastic difference from our 2022 School Year, where we had scarce members.
“I am honestly most excited for the ideas and creations the new group is going to bring in.” Says America Garcia, our club secretary, when asked about what she is most looking forward to in our club. “I’m curious to see what everyone is good at and what they will crochet this year- most people have different styles of crochet so it will be nice to see how we all differ from each other and yet how we come together to make something like this (crochet sale) happen.”
Our crochet projects vary from less than an hour to multiple days, making the work strenuous especially when taking into consideration how much exertion it takes from the hand muscles. I believe this is what we are all collectively relieved of. The more members we have, the less overload of work each member will have to experience, considering everyone will be contributing their creations in order to make a sale happen. Yaretzi Rangel, a member of our club, expressed just how liberating it feels to have more hands on deck. “I can’t begin to explain just how stressed out I was the closer the date for the sale came, I felt like we weren’t making as many things as we were hoping to, like a week before our sale, I was rushing through hats. I believe perhaps this year, we will be able to relax and take our time now that we don’t have- four members.”
Even our club president, Reagan Kinsella, is exceptionally eager for our new members. “I have been crocheting since I was young, and I don’t think people really realize how difficult it is to find other people who share this rather- well I wouldn’t say rare but crocheting is not a very common hobby, so I’m beyond excited to see so many who want to either learn or continue going. This has been my main goal since starting the club three years ago, bringing in more people and uniting those who are seeking others with similar interests. I simply cannot wait to begin. I will be very sad to see this go once I graduate, I can only hope others share this passion and continue our club.”
While crochet is considered to be an old-fashioned form of art, its popularity has definitely skyrocketed in recent years due to people both teaching and showing off their creations on social media platforms, which helped others discover their talent or adoration for crochet. We invite any student (experienced or new) who is interested in crochet to come join us in room 209 every Tuesday during lunch to either learn or have fun crocheting with us.
