Fiber arts teacher Christopher Kuhne added the knitting and crocheting skills to the curriculum. He said, “Knitting and crochet is one of the biggest joys in my life.”

Starting this year, the fiber arts teachers started to teach students how to knit and crochet. This new addition to the curriculum was added by fiber arts teacher Christopher Kuhne. 

“I added crocheting and knitting to the curriculum because that is something I am really passionate about and hasn’t typically been taught in the past,” Kuhne said. 

Fiber arts student and sophomore Reagan Bletzinger said she enjoys the new knitting and crocheting skills her teacher has taught her. 

“The curriculum is cool. This class has taught me that I don’t have to be good at art to make something cool,” Bletzinger said. 

Although the new curriculum is fun for both students and teachers, Kuhne said he understands why it wasn’t taught in the past. 

“It’s kind of tough and it’s really difficult to teach that to a class of 30 kids because you have to watch what someone is doing and show them,” Kuhne said. “I’ve created as best as I could some instructional videos to go over step by step what to do. Even with that, a lot of the time (students) still have to have someone watching (them) do it.”

He said the crocheting unit will still be taught in upcoming years but thinks that the teachers will have to dial down the level of difficulty for the knitting unit. 

“There has been a lot of confusion and frustration with (knitting) because it is a little harder,” he said.

Through the class frustration, these activities continue to be something Kuhne really enjoys. 

“It’s all very soothing and therapeutic. To be able to pass that on to these kids and thinking about how it affects mental health and coping with difficult things that are going on, that is a really useful skill,” Kuhne said. “To me, I’ve been more and more passionate about keeping the art of that alive.” By Avery Carlisle