Girls still outnumber boys in knitting classes, but the hobby is definitely catching on among boys. Knitting is taught in some elementary school art classes, and some boys are drawn in by the cool colors and soft/bumpy textures of yarn.
Often boys will get interested when they see their mothers and sisters completing a project. A mother brought her daughter to class recently so they could learn together, and her 7-year-old son couldn’t resist trying it. “I’ve also met European men who learned to knit from their grandmothers,” Gail Parrinello, owner of Cornwall Yarn Shop, says.
Christine Fabbie, owner of the Rainbow Sheep Shoppe in Port Ewen, agrees that it’s a good hobby for boys as well as girls. “Both my sons, now in their 20s, knit beautifully,” she says.
Adults talk about knitting as a creative stress-reliever, while kids – who tend to have plenty of stress themselves nowadays – are apt to simply say it’s fun. But the benefits of sewing, knitting and crocheting are many: Children develop concentration, fine motor skills, and a hobby they can carry throughout their lives, not to mention one that doesn’t involve an electronic screen.
Carolyn Quoma is a freelance writer living in Beacon.