A stitch in (lunch) time

PUPILS from a secondary school in Henley have been learning how to crochet as part of a lunchtime club.

The crochet club at Gillotts School meets once a week on Tuesdays and is celebrating its first anniversary, having begun at Easter last year.

The group has about 10 members and has become a place of peace and quiet for those looking to learn a new skill and to share tutorials and patterns.

Since its inception, the group have made a wide variety of items including cuddly animals, flowers, food miniatures and even wearable clothing.

Eddie Bristow, 15, is the club’s founder and he became interested in learning the skill after admiring Easter chicks that had been crocheted by music teacher Katy Greene.

Ms Greene said: “I’d been teaching guitar here and I made some little crocheted chicks for Easter, with cream eggs up their jumpers. Eddie was interested and asked me about it and it was really him who got us going.

Eddie said: “I just wanted to learn something new. My aunt crochets and my mum does a bit as well from time to time. I also come from a very artsy family. My grandad and his dad and his dad were all painters. I found crochet quite hard to begin with, like learning how to do all the stitches but, over time, I got used to it. I can do them without thinking of them now.”

The group is helped by Ms Greene and student support worker Sarah Althorp and is led by year nine pupil Violet Sindle, 14.

Violet said: “The most common stitch is a single crochet. Each line is called a round and there are lots of different things that you can do in a round.

“It’s just really relaxing and you can kind of go on autopilot when you do it. I think that’s just kind of fun.” Violet has recently begun selling her crochet creations at the Chocolate Café in Thame Side including mini bumble bees, coffee mugs and fruit slices.

She said: “One of my friends was talking to the manager there and they thought it would be a good project for me to start. I’ve had about 15 sales so far, the most popular ones are the bumble bee or the cup.”

Violet said that she often finds the patterns she wants to use online but credits the pattern designer on the labels of her items.

Rosie Eslon, 13, said: “Mainly I knitted before, just small scarves and things. My mum can crochet but I have mainly learnt in school. It’s a lot easier to undo your mistakes better with crocheting.”

Rosie said that her favourite thing that she had made was a hat. She said: “I was sick when I did it, so I was doing crochet for three or four hours a day, so it took me only a week.

“It’s nice to do when you are watching telly. I am dyslexic and I like to fiddle with something so it gives my hands something to do when I am watching TV.”

Sahara Green, 11, learnt to crochet from scratch after joining the club six weeks ago.

She is currently crocheting the Studio Ghibli anime character Totoro and said she had enjoyed learning a new skill despite finding it difficult to begin with.

Crochet and handcrafts have risen in popularity since the coronavirus lockdowns and tutorials on social media often rack up millions of views.

In September 2023, with almost 15 billion views, the most popular craft on TikTok was crochet.

Mrs Althorp said: “I learned how to knit and sew at primary school and then a lot of these skills, they kind of died out a bit.

“During the lockdowns, lots of people started crafting or knitting or finding other things to pass the time.

“So a lot of these older skills started to come back and certainly crocheting is really fashionable at the moment.”

Despite its online popularity Ms Greene said she had found it to be a skill that is best learnt in person.

She said: “I wanted to learn for ages, and I tried and tried and tried to watch YouTube videos and learn and I just couldn't get it.

“And then I sat next to my mum one day and she showed me in seconds. I’m all for the internet but it’s one of those things where I think it really does help to see how it's done.”

The club are currently working on a joint project together and are crocheting a multicoloured blanket for a sofa in the school’s Gateway Building where the group meets.