Fiber arts club: A space to unwind and connect
Yarn and thread spill across tables in the TSC International Lounge on Wednesday nights as students crochet between conversations about classwork and family drama. One individual pieces together a dragon puppet using reclaimed animatronic parts while another crochets a tie to gift to a family member.
Welcome to Utah State University’s Fiber Arts Club, the place where “granny hobbies” are anything but stale.
The club started almost five years ago with just a few members and has grown to host 10-20 regulars. Most are crocheters, but they also host other fiber arts enthusiasts such as knitters and the occasional wool spinner.
“I think it’s really important for stress relief because pretty much every other day of the week, we’re all working on homework,” said Leona Bennion, the club’s current president. “This is my day of the week to chill for the night.”
Bennion makes time for the club by requesting off work every Wednesday. They are not alone in prioritizing the fiber arts.
“It gives an opportunity to just calm down a little bit,” Bennion said. “It’s also good to meet people with similar interests.”
Adalene Long started the club as a sophomore in fall 2021 right as students returned to campus after the coronavirus pandemic.
“I just felt like it was really important to come back and to have a space for people,” Long said. “I really was hoping it could be a way for people who had never crocheted before, never knitted before, to still come and enjoy and relax.”
Long, who graduated in fall 2024, was surprised when she found out a fiber arts club didn’t already exist on campus.
“I knew that there were so many people out there that do crochet,” she said. “It was sort of like post-coronavirus, and I just thought it was a great timing and opportunity to kind of start to bring people together.”
The first year of the club wasn’t easy, though, according to Long. Some meetings were just Long and one other member sitting on the TSC couches, but it grew. In its second year, the club won USU’s Growth and Outreach award.
Connor Hales, a club member, encouraged people not to be intimidated by the learning process.
“When I first started, it was so hard, but it’s a lot of practice,” Hales said. “You can just turn your brain off after a while. My first couple projects were crap, but if you just set aside minutes a day to work on it, you’ll get good at it. I promise.”
The club welcomes and even encourages beginners to join. Some members put down their own projects to help newcomers learn. Other newcomers pull up YouTube tutorials and learn as they go.
Long said this sense of community was always the goal.
“A lot of the members mentioned, ‘It’s something that I’m going to do anyway, like crochet and knit at home. It’s great that I might as well do it with people,'” she said. “That was like the magic of it: being able to come together and still work on your individual project with other people.”
The club hosts a fashion show every April. This year’s catwalk is set for mid-April. The club wants to invite anyone handmaking something to join them in walking the runway.
Members also “yarn bomb” the A on Valentine’s Day, covering it in colorful yarn and patterns. Long started the tradition during her presidency.
Finding time for a weekly meeting can sound difficult when students are juggling classes and work, but members of the club make it happen. By the end of the semester, the International Lounge turns into a homework spot just as much as a hobby space. Members work on assignments between projects.
For many members of the club, the weekly meetings are an essential part of surviving college.
“We have a lot of STEM majors here,” Bennion said. “They have to relieve the stress somehow.”
For those interested in learning more information about the club, reach out to @usu.fiberarts on Instagram.