If you’ve attended a 9 a.m. Politics seminar or a 1:30 p.m. Environmental Science lecture, you may have seen a classmate or two pull out a skein and some needles. Perhaps you’ve looked over at the person sitting beside you, their eyes glued to your professor, while an entire scarf emerges out of thin air. 

College first-year Ella Greene knits hats for her friends during some of her classes. She attributes the popularity of knitting or crocheting in class to limited attention spans.  

“Knitting is great because it’s more productive than just being on your phone, but it also just gives you two things to do at a time,” Greene said. “In the classes where I am just sitting and listening, it keeps my hands busy so that I can actually focus better. I am just thinking about what [my professor] is saying, and then the knitting is usually very consistent, so I don’t really have to think about it.”