Welcome
Become a Mentor
Become a Donor
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The "Guide"
Frequently Asked Questions
Reviews
Students' Yarns
A Mentor's Story
Friends
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The "Guide" includes:
|Table of Contents
|Acknowledgements
|Forward
|History
|Benefits
|Getting Started
|Steps to Success
|Logistics
|Conclusion|
|Warm Up America|
|Appendix|
 Forward 
By Bonnie Lively
Growing up in northern New York during the forties and fifties, I was fortunate to be surrounded by
women of different ethnic backgrounds who were strong-doers of the needlearts. Our family was part
of a small community that returned year after year to the same spot in the Adirondacks. Knitting,
crocheting and stitchery were common past-times. Still fresh in my mind are those women who took
the time to teach me the needlearts. Not only did they share the activity, they also gave their
time and attention as nurturing adults.
At the beginning of every summer, I would ask my mother to take me to the local yarn shop. The yarn
and pattern choices were few and simple. Color was the only big decision. Next came sitting on the
sandy lake front and, between the normal kid activities of swimming, canoeing, and hiking, we would
cast on, and knit and purl until the stars came out. I will never forget this group of mentoring
women who helped me through every dropped stitch and shaping question.
I had a variety of instructors. I know my mother did not teach me to knit, since she is of German
descent and has always knit the Continental style while I have always knit the English throw method.
I do have early memories of my maternal grandmother teaching me to crochet potholders as we sat in
our glider on the front porch of our cabin. Of course, my mother did her share of giving instruction
when summer ended and the knitting continued. Even through college, I was often knitting when I
should have been studying.
As I look back on those years, I now realize what a gift I was given. During times of my life that
have been extremely stressful, I gravitated to my knitting as a source of solace and comfort. It
seemed like that strand of fiber flowing through my hand held some magical power that would solve
my current difficulty. It would be wonderful if every child and adult possessed that ability to
make the world go away once in awhile. Somehow, picking up needles and yarn, changing the focus
of your attention to what is between your hands and eyes gives you a broader perspective on the
challenges of life. It provides a healthy alternative activity to other less desirable escape
mechanisms. What those women gave me, besides my craft, was a seed that is now growing into
this program. Our children need these coping skills and it is important for us to take the time to
teach them.
However, it’s not just the child who benefits from the Needle Arts Mentoring Program. Many adults are
missing an opportunity to interact with children. When a match is made between child and adult,
bonding takes place. When the program ends, adults miss “their” child and want to have the same
child if possible when the program resumes. The children touch their hearts and fill a gap that
they were not even aware they had.
Needle artists are givers and nurturers by nature. What other group of hobbyists has organizations
that give handmade afghans to the homeless (Warm Up America*), make warm caps for cold children (Caps
for Kids*) and give security blankets to seriously ill or traumatized children (Project Linus*)1 ?
All over the country, shops and consumers gather yarn, make items, collect finished goods and ship to
these organizations to make a difference in our society. We would like to add the Needle Arts
Mentoring Program to this list!
When one contemplates how knitting and other needlearts have been passed on from one generation to
another, it causes us to think about the significant changes in our family sociology. Since the
Renaissance, when knitting was a trade only done by men, the ancient craft has been taught by one
elder to a younger, creating nurturing relationships between the young and the old. In recent times,
we have lost the tradition of our elders being in close proximity to our youngsters. Families have
been stretched the width and breadth of our world. Grandma lives across the country in a retirement
home; Mom gets up and goes to work everyday; and our public school system is forced to give up the
"frills" for reading, writing and arithmetic. Due to these changes in society and demographics, our
crafts have lost the opportunity to be passed on and are in serious danger of becoming extinct. Sadly,
not only could the needlearts disappear, but the opportunity for a magic relationship between young
and old would also disappear.
This program is not just about learning the needlearts. It is also about sharing yourself with a
child and enjoying an activity together. There is no more important role in our society today.
1The Web sites for these organizations are: www.WarmUpAmerica.com, www.capsforkids.com and
www.projectlinus.org.
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