Sept. 25: Purls of Wisdom: Arts Room [Pan/Open]

[Xeno Lovegood]

▶︎ Knitting Club: First Meeting of 1977-1978

He'd seen the club advertised in the school paper for years now and had, frankly, never felt inclined to attend. Some members of the family knit on occasion, Pearlette was particularly gifted and had tried to drag him here more than the one time he'd allowed it. He'd gone through a fair few pairs of socks she'd made over the years, they'd grown into more properly shaped tubes the more practiced she became. The thought of putting his own hands to work at it hadn't ever really struck his fancy, he was decent at making words come to life on a page but hadn't really made things that could be held, and maybe it was the fact that he missed his sister that had inspired Xeno to check the time and location in the advert. Pandora seemed excited about it at breakfast too, and if his friend was so fond of it, it was worth giving the experience a try. She'd not led him astray before, her book recommendations and food for thought always interesting, so perhaps there was more to this club than he could know without giving it a try. That was true of most things, after all, and with any luck he could send his sister a wobbly scarf for Christmas. She'd be proud of him for trying something new, if nothing else, even if it was coming a little late.

And so, in his weekend uniform - his favorite sunshine-yellow cloak, worn and patched - Xeno set off for the Arts Room on fifth come midmorning, seeking assistance from a few portraits to find the way. He entered the space to find a fire crackling away in the hearth, barely a stone visible on the walls for the in-progress tapestries and canvases lining them, and a merry group settling in at armchairs and poufs. There were many little faces unknown to him, which shouldn't have been such a surprise, Xeno belatedly realized, since the first meeting of most clubs had more people than they ended the term with. He chuckled to himself at spying Doc already going through the basket of skeins, having forgotten - if he'd ever known - that the lad was a member here. Another good soul to share time with, and along with creating something, keeping hands busy - there would be no shortage of good conversation in this group.

Feeling buoyed that this was the right direction for the day, Xeno came up to the girl with the silvery ponytail. Weekends were sometimes for Quidditch practice, sometimes for inadvertently getting lost in the forest, sometimes for purposely getting lost in research - but they were always for friends, and this was a new way to do just that. "Morning, Pan," he greeted at her side, just above the noise of the room. "Mind if I join you?"

[Pandora Nott]

Knitting club was one of her favorite pastimes, perhaps because she it had been the first club she had ever joined, or perhaps because it was one of her favorite creative outlets. When she had first started, she hadn’t really been able to knit much. She’d spent at least the first year knitting scarfs, and by the end they had actually started to look decent. In the year since her ability to knit had grown, and she was determined that this was the year she was going to knit a sweater. A decent sweater, not one that had one sleeve shorter than the other, as her last attempt had been. She was quite decent at knitting scarfs, and socks, but sweaters were still proving to be difficult. Thankfully, there were many other students available to offer their wisdom, which was another reason she loved the club so much. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have friends - she certainly had made enough over the years that she didn’t feel lonely, but the community she felt in the knitting club was something she loved.

Looking around the room, it warmed her heart to see the younger students paired off with older ones, learning their first stitches. It was hard to think that next year she would be one of the older students teaching the incoming first years. She still felt so young, and not ready for a world outside the castle. She could be herself at home, yes, but she knew the risks that came with being herself outside of these halls. She’d never been a direct target of bullying, but she knew everyone thought she was a little odd. Sometimes her things would go missing, but they always turned up eventually. This room though, she wasn’t any different than anyone else. Just another ambitious knitter trying to participate in the craft. She smiled, amused as she watched Doc dig through a basket of skeins. But a familiar voice saying her name drew her attention, and she turned to find Xenophilius next to her.

“Morning Xeno,” she said cheerfully, surprised to see him. He hadn’t attended a club meeting before, but it was delightful to see him. Giving a nod to his words, she made room on the small couch next to her, moving the skein she had selected to a basket on the floor. “I didn’t know you had any interest in knitting,” she stated once he’d sat down next to her. She would have remembered if he had shown up to any meetings in the past - the group wasn’t that large. Nevertheless, she was pleased to see him branching out. “Have you ever knitted before? I can help you get started, if you would like.”

[Xeno Lovegood]

"You know, I'm not sure yet that I do," Xeno admitted with a chuckle as he folded in beside Pandora, "but I'm hopeful it'll grow on me. This is quite the jolly group you have here, I can see the appeal of this routine." Perhaps the knitting club would be his new activity for the year, or for the term at least. Each group that he'd joined so far was passionate, and with its own quirks - chess could get rather uppity and the paper cutthroat, Ballycastle fans were perpetually stressed as their team went up and down in the rankings among other top teams in the league, he was still finding his way among his teammates (although Emmy's promotion seemed to be helping), and he knew he was guilty of being one of the many longwinded debaters in the creatures club. He could feel here already, though, a rather pleasant kind of community. Just like anything, there had to be layers to this, and while perhaps the president had gotten to the top through nefarious means - his intuition felt that wasn't so, and Xeno hoped he was right.

"I'd appreciate the help," he said with a rueful smile at her offer. The last time he had tried, he'd made a few frustrated rows, dropping stitches here and there, and ended up undoing the entire thing. This could be a good skill to add to his repertoire - Pearlette was proficient enough now to not only make clothing of her own by hand, but through enchanting the needles as well, which he assumed could not be done until one had mastered the skills - and, really, give him a different space to connect with others. This could hardly be termed a competitive group, no one was trying to one-up anyone else, they were here helping each other. It felt like a collaborative space, uplifting, and the energy was welcomed. "Pearl tried to teach me a few years ago, and I'm afraid I wasn't as diligent of a student as I could have been for her. I aim to amend that today, as well as I can, and not delay you too much on your plans. What are you thinking of creating?"

[Pandora Nott]

Grinning at him, Pandora nodded to Xeno’s words as he sat down next to her. It was a jolly group, and it was fun to watch others create things. There were knitters of all levels here at every meeting, and sometimes it turned to fun banter as they all sat around working on their projects. There was always someone willing to help if you got stuck or dropped a stitch. Pandora didn’t consider herself the best knitter, but she knew enough to help the younger student learn how to start knitting. “Oh you’ll want to join after one good meeting from this group. Doc roped me into it, and it’s nice to have friends from other houses,” she said with a smile, rearranging her yarn in her lap so that it would unroll easier as she stitched. “Natalie is usually here, but I haven’t seen her yet. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ethan has been attempting to talk her out of staying in the club.

Waving her hand at his words, Pandora laughed lightly, “Nonsense, you aren’t delaying my plans. I mean, this sort of is my plan, to knit and chat with good company.” Xeno was one of her favorite individuals to pass the time with. He seemed to understand her more than others, and Pandora was sure he liked her because he’d never brushed off her company like some of her other friends occasionally did. “To be honest, Pearl is probably more experienced as a teacher, but I will try to live up to her,” she teased, digging a skein of yarn and some spare needles out of her bag. “I’m working on a sweater, which is complex because it involves knitting in the round. If you’d like a suggestion, a scarf is always a good place to start.” She handed him the yarn and needles, “So to start, you’ll need to make a slip knot.”