Knit Night: reducing stress and helping the community
Every Tuesday from 9–10 p.m. in Professor Glenn’s Schupf apartment students of all experience levels are welcome to attend knit night. Run by Psychology Professor, Melissa Glenn and Chemistry Professor, Julie Millard, Knit Night’s main goal is to reduce stress by serving as a “departure from the trappings of technology” while simultaneously helping the community.
Glenn, an AMS faculty in residence, started Knit Night to connect with students outside of the classroom. She stated, “I have wonderful relationships with psychology and biology students who are in my classes or work in my lab, but I seldom interact with or get to know students with other interests and majors outside of these areas. Living on campus affords me many opportunities to connect with all kinds of students with lots of different interests and backgrounds.” While the majority of the students have not knitted before and Glenn calls herself a “total novice” the experience is still enjoyed by many.
Coming from a family of knitters, Glenn took to crocheting from a young age and always enjoyed knitting, though it seemed like “a kind of dark magic” to her and a skill that she would never “be able to figure out.” However, five years ago, Glenn’s daughter Alexa came home from George J. Mitchell school in Waterville and taught her mother the basics of knitting after learning about the craft in school. When her daughter knitted a small rectangle out of a ball of yarn and chopsticks she was “blown away.” Alexa continued to inform her mother about the benefits of knitting, such as how it is a great way to relieve stress and anxiety for both boys and girls. After taking some knitting lessons from her daughter, Glenn became obsessed with knitting and created small toys for her cats and scarves for her daughter’s dolls. She then turned to knitting human-sized scarves and is currently learning how to knit hats and socks.
Glenn decided to share her newfound passion with students and other faculty members to “offer students the same benefits” she saw herself and to “connect with others around knitting, either to learn from each other, or learn together, but also to gather together to knit, listen to music, and talk.” Even if Knit Night is only an hour each week, disconnecting and engaging with others is extremely beneficial. Glenn noted, “we know from research in psychology and neuroscience that knitting decreases anxiety and stress and, in general, promotes brain health and well-being.”
In order to make Knit Night a reality, Glenn teamed up with Millard, a faculty in residence at West who happens to be an avid knitter and sewer. Her expertise allows students to take their knitting to the next level. With Millard’s skillset, the knitters have been able to make an impact on the community as well.
Last year Glenn learned of an organization called “Warm Up America.” Seeking donations of knitted or crocheted squares, this non-profit collects squares to make blankets that they distribute to those in need. As Glenn remarked, “considering that my area of expertise was squares and rectangles, I was pretty intrigued. So this became our main objective! It honestly seemed perfect — students could learn to knit a basic stitch, and if I acquired some nice thick yarn we could generate squares pretty quickly and donate them.”
To take this service to the next level, Millard came up with the idea of making blankets right on campus and donating them locally. The products are donated to area shelters, hospitals, or schools. The group has completed one afghan so far, and their goal is to get a start on another one before next winter rolls around. Inspired by Warm Up America’s other campaign, “Tiny Hats for Tiny Babies” which accepts donations of hats for newborns and especially small hats for premature infants, Glenn will spend part of her summer learning to knit hats. Regarding the future, Glenn is hoping to include a possible outreach project in which College students teach area kids to knit.
Knit Night, therefore, benefits the community and serves as a relaxing way to escape from reality. During the hour, many students drop by to say hello, and Glenn admitted, “I do try to entice them in with the baked goods my husband, Owen, often makes with Alexa.” This recurring event that is reliably available to students requires no experience and students do not need any materials of their own to participate.
If anyone is interested in Knit Night, they should feel free to contact Professor Glenn or Professor Millard at their emails. For those interested in Warm Up America’s mission, please visit http://warmupamerica.org/ and for a list of the benefits of knitting visit https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/01/25/the-health-benefits-of-knitting/.
