by Viviane Stackhouse

Every Monday, the University of Maryland’s crochet club meets in Susquehanna Hall to crochet hats, blankets, and plush animals. They donate some to charity. 

The Crocheting For a Cause club started three years ago and is already expanding. The club provides space for crocheters from beginner to advanced plus free yarn and crochet hooks for anyone who needs them. 

“It’s a fun way to get people to learn something new,” said Regina Familiar Avalos, a junior psychology and human development major.

Some members work on past projects, while others follow along to an interactive lesson. Chit-chat and laughter fill the room as members bonded over their shared interests and worked on their projects. 

At its meeting on Oct. 18, the club piloted a follow-along lesson to make a plush-filled octopus. Avalos wrote the pattern on a blackboard and set up a camera above her workstation so members could follow along with her as she crocheted the octopus — like a YouTube video, but in real-time. 

Haley Ascher, a junior criminal justice and criminology major, said she joined the club to get to know new people.

“I crocheted in the past many years ago and I was looking for clubs to join just to meet people because of COVID,” she said.

The club is on a huge rebound following the pandemic, with over 30 attendees filling the room that day — much more than on Zoom last year when the club had about five to ten attendees. 

“I get to talk to a bunch of new people that I wouldn’t have met otherwise,” Ascher said. 

It’s not only a therapeutic distraction for members but also a way to donate to charity. Crocheters can donate anything they make — whether made at club meetings or not — including blankets, baby hats, and stuffed animals. The club donates them to the Howard University Hospital for newborn babies and children staying at the hospital.

Bella Formoso, the club’s secretary and a senior criminal justice major, is mainly in charge of running the club’s social media and helping to complete the extra busy work. The creations are piling up, she said.

“We have about a bag’s worth of stuff but hopefully we’ll have double of that by the end of the semester.”

Featured image: Crocheting for a Cause President Lauren Taylor and Vice President Thalie Dunkel-Bayogha hold up crochet needles and yarn. Photo by Viviane Stackhouse.