If you thought TUCK was just stuffing your shirt into your jeans, well, I’m a frayed knot. For some crocheting and knitting students, it’s an acronym for Trinity University’s Crochet and Knit Club (TUCK), who bind together weekly.
The group gathers each week to enjoy the collective environment while working on their own projects. TUCK President Noelle Poquiz, senior engineering science major, leads the club, and with consistent meetings, exciting events and off-campus excursions, there are always opportunities for club members to bond.
“Our goal isn’t to cover the campus in yarn,” Poquiz said. “We mostly just want to make a community of people. It’s cliche, but this is where I meet my friends. It’s where other people can come in and find other people. A lot of people are freshmen. If they don’t have any friends here, they’ll find someone like, ‘Hey, this is something that I did!’ It’s a shared hobby. It’s a starting point.”
This focus on community is nothing new for TUCK. Kennice Leisk, class of ‘22 and managing editor of Strategic Communications and Marketing, along with her friends, Yukiko Yamazaki ‘22 and Alexandra Cortez ‘22, started the club in 2020 as a way to stay involved during the COVID quarantine. They had their first club meeting on Zoom and continued the club in person once they were back on campus.
“It can feel isolating to do crafts,” Leisk said. “‘Cause with these projects, you spend so many hours on them, and it’s kind of a very individual thing, but I think it’s so awesome when you can come together and chat about it and just geek out about it.”
Leisk also makes her own clothes, which she showcased by wearing a patterned purple cardigan during her interview. The club has since grown well beyond its three founders, having so many members this fall that they had to find a new meeting room. What started as friends attending to support the club slowly garnered attention from other members of the student body, Leisk said.
“I think we were a little scared that maybe when we left it wouldn’t have those people, but we definitely had some people who came in right after us as officers, and they, I think, are the ones to credit for keeping it going,” Leisk said. “It’s been really, really cool to know that this has continued on and that people use it as a space to come together and do the things that they love.”
The club finds its community in its eclectic membership, with every member focusing on their own form of craft. Bailey Mathis-McKee, first-year undecided major on the pre-vet track, specializes in intricate bracelet making. He said he hopes to sell some of his creations at Trinity’s next art market, along with other members from the club.
“It’s chaotic, but in the best way possible. We have very interesting conversations, and the stuff we do make is actually really cool,” Mathis-McKee said. “Some people will go out of their way to teach you how to knit or crochet and work with you on that. Some people know some other pretty advanced stuff and do that too. It’s just overall really friendly and inclusive, so if you’re a beginner, expert, somewhere in the middle, join and then you can learn too.”
The club encourages members to share their creations, anything from glow-in-the-dark ghosts to axolotl plushies, the latter of which has become an unofficial club mascot. There are even those who work with other mediums, like crafting from soda can tabs or animation. New members don’t need to worry about materials, as the club provides communal supplies and occasional carpools to craft stores.
Next semester, TUCK plans to start a charity initiative focused on creating and donating hats to a local oncology center. TUCK meetings happen weekly on Thursday nights from 7-9 p.m. in CSI 104.
