Andy Tullis/ The BulletinMarshall High Schools media manager, Carolyn Carry-McDonald, center, helps students get started during a knitting club meeting MOnday at the school in Bend. he hats the students make will be donated to Bendís Community Center just down the street for its Keep Them Warm program.

When Marshall High School’s media manager, Carolyn Carry-McDonald, tried to start a knitting club for the students last year, it fell flat. That’s why she was excited last month when one student’s interest sparked the rest.

Senior Lily Hamilton, 18, is a library aide for Carry-McDonald; after Carry-McDonald taught her to knit, Lily wanted others to learn, too.

“She’s letting us use most of her stuff,” Lily said, pointing to the needles, looms and yarn. Other staff, too, contributed to the club.

At lunch Tuesday, students gathered on couches and in comfy chairs to knit in the school library. At the other ends of colorful tangles or neatly wound balls, students carefully completed stitches with their knitting needles.

Lily focused her progress on a light pink hat, but when it’s done, she won’t be sporting it herself. The hats the students make will be donated to Bend’s Community Center just down the street for its Keep Them Warm program. That program gives clothes, hats, scarves and sleeping bags to those who in need.

“We have a need, especially during this time of year, for scarves and hats. … I mean, look at this weather,” said Shannon Ries, executive director at Bend’s Community Center.

The students are happy to pass the hats on to others.

“I would rather donate it than keep it,” Lily said, adding she still feels sentimental sometimes letting a hat go after it’s done. But the result is worth it. “It’s fun to learn this skill at school and then also be doing a community service.”

For Lily, the craft has expanded beyond the 35-minute lunch periods on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays when the club meets. She bought supplies for home and is knitting something for a Christmas present.

In a chair next to her, Shannon Walton, 16, a sophomore, worked a dark blue hat on circular knitting needles.

“I just think it’s really fun and you’re doing something for other people,” Shannon said.

Shannon said she started knitting when she was 12, but the club has helped her get back into it. When she started knitting recently, it inspired her mom to pick up crocheting again. Her grandmother crochets, too, she said.

Shannon explained the plastic looms are good for beginners because they make projects “less sloppy.” As any beginner knows, it’s about balancing the right amount of tension in stitches — not too loose, and not too tight.

When the bell rang, the students tucked their knitting supplies into large Ziploc bags with their names written in marker on them and apologized for leaving out a few stray balls of yarn. Carry-McDonald assured them it was all right: the lunch period goes by quickly, and she could finish putting away the rest. She’s just happy the club has taken off this year, even if only a few students regularly participate.

She laughed, acknowledging that last year, the hobby must not have seemed “cool” enough.

Before they left, both Lily and Shannon said knitting is fairly easy to teach. Carry-McDonald loves this aspect of the club; beyond the hats going to a good cause, the teens are working together and learning from each other.

“It really just takes one or two interested kids,” Carry-McDonald said. “That’s the beautiful thing is the passing down of knowledge.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0325, kfisicaro@bendbulletin.com