Here come the grannies. Learn to be the best granny out there with the new Granny Hobbies club.
Pointy needles and balls of yarn are some of the tools you will learn how to use in this club. With step-by-step instructions, participants will learn how to be the perfect granny for future generations.
President of the club Lainey Jessup, a junior psychology major from West Jordan, said: “I wanted to create a club for people to connect with other people with like-minded hobbies. Rather than crocheting alone, it was a place to share and teach different skills and make new friends.”
The skills of crocheting or knitting have been used for hundreds of years, and the leaders of this group want to make sure that these skills stay alive and known.
This art is used for more than just making clothes or accessories. These skills are used to make things such as pillows, dolls or even smaller things like keychains and bookmarks.
Jessup said that the whole idea began with having crochet nights with friends that had a lot of music, good talks and dance videos. She wanted to be able to share those experiences with other people with like-minded ideas and hobbies. It allows people to share their skills and to learn others’ skills.
With more people beginning to be involved in this new club since it started in January, more ideas have been introduced.
Vice president of the club Kyleigh Hill, a junior software engineering major, said, “We have a couple of other people that have their own obsessions that we are going to explore too like cross stitching and embroidery.”
Those involved in this club are beginning to work with the idea of doing service projects such as quilting blankets to donate or knitting baby beanies for the NICU. The hope is that the granny skills that are being learned and taught by this group of people will turn into something bigger.
Jessup said, “Our club’s purpose is to bring back the lost arts of granny skills.”
While learning many of these skills can be a new thing to do and try out, there is scientific reasoning as to why people do it. It can help focus the mind, allowing the brain to relax from anxiety. Other things are improved while participating in these activities such as the fine motor skills in hands or even reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s. Learning and getting good at new skills such as those learned in the club helps with self-esteem and feeling the emotions that come with success.
The club meets every other Monday at 6 p.m. in the Atwood Innovation Plaza. Follow the club’s Instagram to learn more about the events that are coming up as well as details on how to join. Though the skills are used mostly by grannies, they are not limited to them.
Jessup said, “We would love to bring in as many people as possible and potentially have club members with other skills to teach it to the rest of us.”
