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Community Corner

What is UP With Lily Cunningham?

Eleven-year-old knitter teaches her mom a thing or two.

Each Monday we’ll be running a profile. About kids. And what they’ve done. Or do. Or are about to do. Because when a kid puts his mind to it, he can do some pretty interesting things.

Lily Cunningham, age 11, fifth grade student at Bullock: Knitter

“Knitting a good pattern is fun. Like reading a good book. Sometimes it’s more fun than watching TV.”

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So declares Lily Cunningham, who has been knitting for more than half her young life. “When I was five, my mom took a knitting class. I’d sit on her lap and watch. There were no classes for five year olds, so early on I learned everything from my mother.” Now Lily has surpassed her mother with the level of pattern difficulty she takes on. She works with a knitting teacher when she needs help on a project, but she’s knitted cables, mastered double pointed needles, and even teaches her mom how to fix dropped stitches. “I try to teach her,” she says. “I don’t know if she remembers how to do it.”

Lily has knitted sweaters, socks, collars and hats, but by far her favorite is knitting stuffed animals and dolls. Many of the patterns can be found on Ravelry.com, a social networking site for knitters where Lily displays her wares. “They have a pattern for everything you can think of,” she says.  She’s knitted muffins, bunnies, whales, a lump of coal, olives, a shawl for her bird, and a surprisingly lifelike rendition of dog poop. She’s even taken some of her creations to a local shop for sale.

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Lily's knitting teacher for years has been Sima Brason, a Montclair resident. (Check her out at www.simabrason.com.)

In addition to mentoring her mother, Lily has taught some of her friends to knit and sew as well. When she was in kindergarten, she showed one of the teaching assistants the finger-knitting technique she’d learned from her knitting teacher and the school made it part of the classroom activities for the students. 

Lily finds the beginning of a project the most challenging. “Sometimes the first row is hard, depending on the cast on,” she says. But after that, it’s relaxing. “I open the pattern on my computer and follow it while I listen to music on my iTunes.”

If you know a kid who is doing something fascinating and extraordinary, or quirky and unusual, please let us know. We’re trying to find out: What’s UP with these kids. Shelley@Patch.com

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