Participants at a local fundraiser for Project Knitwell learn to knit after taking a yoga class at Pengu Studio in McLean. Photos contributed
On Saturday, Oct.25, Pengu Studios brought together yogis and knitters alike to host the successful “Yarn Over Yoga” fundraiser benefiting local nonprofit, Project Knitwell.
Both yoga and knitting share a myriad of therapeutic benefits including lowering stress levels and improving focus and concentration. “It’s really a natural fit,” said Pengu Studios owner, Richard Davis. “Yoga and knitting are both practices of rhythmic, repetitive movements that calm heart rate and breathing and result in a sense of calm and inner quiet. Both practices allow the mind to leave distractions behind.”
Participants were treated to an hour-long yoga class followed by knitting instructions complete with knitting kits. McLean local and Project Knitwell founder, Carol Caparosa, was on hand with volunteers to teach knitting and to educate participants about knitting's therapeutic benefits.
Caparosa founded Project Knitwell, a 501c(3) organization, in 2010, offering knitting instruction to patients at Georgetown University Hospital. Since then, Project Knitwell has grown to offer workshops to patients, family members and caregivers at Virginia Hospital Center, Alexandria Hospital, and the Children’s Medical Center, as well as to at risk children and teens in the Northern Virginia area. “We are grateful to Pengu Studios for partnering with us for this event,” said Caparosa. “The funds raised through ‘Yarn over Yoga’ will help us to expand our programs."
One hundred percent of the participant fees went to fund Project Knitwell and there are plans to do another event with Pengu Studio next year.