I am not ready to think about cold weather. The one thing that makes it better for me is yarn. I’m a knitter.

I wasn’t always a knitter. I have only been one for 13 years and a good one for ten. I tried learning several times before it finally stuck. Friends and neighbors attempted to teach me but nothing clicked. Here’s where you’re going to think this is a shameless library plug and it is, of course, but it’s also a true story.

I learned to knit from a book that I found in my library.

What finally made me commit to really learning to knit was the story the author told in her introduction. She wrote about her grandmother teaching her to knit socks and that when her grandmother was passing, she said she couldn’t go because she had to keep knitting socks. The author told her grandmother that it was okay, she would knit the socks for her. This was such a moving tribute that I felt myself wanting to be a part of that tradition.

Neighbors and friends couldn’t breach my knitting block, but that book did. Since then, I have made dozens of pairs of socks. I’ve knitted hats, sweaters (for humans and dogs), scarves, blankets, bags, gloves, and more. I found a community of people who love the process as much as I do. Once, I even went on a knitting retreat.

This process of creating, of trial and error, of discovery, is what you can experience in our Workshop. Aside from some programming, many of the traditional library activities are, by nature, solitary. What you can do in the Workshop gives you the opportunity to explore in a space that is nurturing. You may see someone else doing something that will act as a springboard for an idea of your own.

From the grain of an idea to the full realization of a concept, from child to adult, the Eisenhower Library is here for you.