A brand new crocheting and knitting circle has started meeting this November, with high hopes of impacting both ETSU students and the outside community.
“Sweaters for Cameron” is hosted every Thursday from 5-7 p.m. in the Gump Conference Room at Ross Hall. Participants are asked to bring their own supplies in order to create individual 8×8 squares of any color.
Abby Simpson, the ETSU Roan Scholar who spearheaded the initiative, shares that the intent is to combine all the individual squares into one large blanket, which will be used to cover the trunk of the Cameron Tree, located in the University Commons.
“Putting the squares on the tree kind of represents care and love and [the] community that’s coming together for one big cause,” Simpson said. “[It’s] a piece of artwork that has community meaning behind it.”
As a part of the Roan Impact Focus, Simpson was challenged to pick up a healthy habit over the summer and then turn it into something that could impact the community.
“I picked up the habit of crocheting from a friend and it really helped my stress levels,” Simpson said. “So I started teaching my family, I started teaching my friends, and I saw how much they enjoyed it.”
Simpson quickly saw the potential crocheting had for her peers at ETSU. Eager to teach others the healthy habit of crocheting, she decided to start “Sweaters for Cameron” after learning about a school in Indiana that crocheted blankets for all the trees on their campus.
While Simpson would like to follow suit and cover more trees across campus, her main focus right now is covering the Cameron Tree, as it will take 148 squares to cover the entirety of the tree’s trunk.
The decision to use the Cameron Tree as a focus for the project was not a difficult one to make. Dedicated to the loss of a professor’s son, the Cameron Tree is not only a distinct landmark of the ETSU campus but also to the rest of the region.
Simpson shares that covering the tree in a blanket handmade by students and members of the surrounding community is a way of honoring and remembering what the Cameron Tree stands for, all while showing the unity and care possessed by the community.
“Putting [the blanket] on a tree that has such big symbolism on campus and in our community kind of shows us uniting together,” Simpson said.
Those who want to contribute to “Sweaters for Cameron” need not be advanced level crocheters and knitters; all levels of experience are welcome to attend the weekly circle, which Simpson hopes to continue into the spring semester.
The circle will not meet over Thanksgiving Break, but the recurring meetings will resume the week after.
