NORTHAMPTON — Knitted scarves and hats in an array of colors were tied to chairs and posts all over Pulaski Park. As the sun set Wednesday and the temperature dropped, people walking by took a knitted item to keep them warm.
The scarves and hats were made by a variety of people — from Baltimore to the Pioneer Valley — but it all started with the idea from 10-year-old Isabel Baxter-Paris, a fifth-grade student at Lander-Grinspoon Academy in Northampton.
“We have over 100 scarves and hats,” Isabel said. Only half of them were out at Pulaski Park on Wednesday. More will be hung up at the park within the next few weeks.
Isabel was on a visit to New York City where she ran into the group Knitty City at Manhattan’s Bryant Park. She said she was invited to knit with them and learned the group knits for the homeless, tying knitted items around Bryant Park for people to take.
Isabel wrote up a memo to the school’s principal, Ellen Frank, asking if the school could take a similar initiative. The school partnered with WEBS-America’s Yarn Store to offer an after-school elective and spread the word to others who wished to donate.
Every Wednesday for about nine weeks, WEBS knitting instructor Sylvia Snape would teach Isabel and two other students how to knit.
Isabel held up the first scarf she knitted in the class. The stitches of the green yarn were tight, but the sides of the scarf curved out at the end from a mess-up where she had knitted 50 rows too wide.
“It’s a design element,” she said with a smile. “Now, if you increase by 50 stitches, it’s called ‘pulling an Isabel.’”
It was a learning curve, Snape said, who taught Isabel how to decrease the rows.
“It was really enchanting to see how dedicated and excited they were,” Snape said.
Fourth-grader Eliana Olkin, 10, is still working on her scarf and plans to hang it up with the next round of items.
“We often take it for granted,” Eliana said, of having warm clothes during the winter.
Mayor David Narkewicz praised those involved in the initiative.
“We try to provide shelter,” he said. “But this is a tough time.”
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.