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Basalt juniors stitch together quite a yarn

Scott Condon

High school kids find a lot of different ways to let their freak flags fly – tattoos, long hair, body piercing, crocheting. What? Yep, crocheting.

A handful of boys at Basalt High School have taken up crocheting or knitting – concentrating on hats during winters and headbands for summers. The urge hasn’t struck the girls.

“It’s a boy phenomena,” said Principal Jim Waddick.



None has taken it to heart as much as juniors Adam Norvell and Kyle Pfab. Adam, in particular, is into it – making everything from a headband that holds stereo headphones to a white tuxedo for prom. He turned his passion into profit by custom-making clothing for classmates. He’s even endured getting temporarily banned from his needlework.

Adam said he got in trouble with his parents recently for a bad grade. He doesn’t watch television or play videos, so they punished him by prohibiting him from crocheting for a week or so. He’s back at it with a vengeance.




Both boys said their inspiration for crocheting came from their grandmothers. Adam picked it up about five years ago when his grandmother visited and was teaching his sister. Neither boy stuck with it but became interested again a couple of years ago.

Kyle came up with the idea of crocheting a tuxedo for prom. He created a black tuxedo jacket with tails, a bow tie and pants.

Adam liked the idea so much that he worked overtime to crank out his own white tuxedo, adding a top hat and a cane topped with Legos. The belt that he wore included a big buckle, resulting in an outfit that appeared to be equally influenced by Elvis and Fred Astaire.

The boys were aghast when asked which icon influenced the outfit. “It’s the Adam influence,” Kyle finally explained.

Both boys rely on their own ingenuity to create their clothing. Kyle said when he informed his grandma that he was making his tuxedo for prom, she asked which pattern he was using. He informed her he wasn’t.

Art needs no pattern.

The boys can’t take a home economics class to show off their crocheting prowess. There is no such class. Fortunately, they were able to crochet for credit in an art class by making wearable art.

Kyle said crocheting is just a hobby for him. Adam is taking it a step further. He plans to trademark a logo of a custom-designed sword and he’s named his company Noble Knight.

His products are already in demand. “People ask me every day to make something,” he said. He even made a bikini for a female friend.

Adam said he had his prom jacket ready to go in four days, his pants in a weekend and his top hat in just a few hours.

He said his parents didn’t think he would actually wear his white outfit to prom, which was last Saturday night. “But I’m a pretty weird kid,” he said with a grin. Besides he invested $30 or so in yarn. He didn’t have enough left to rent a tux.

Kyle had a scare when he ran out of the black cotton yarn necessary for his outfit. He couldn’t find the right kind of yarn to complete his sleeves at the Wal-Marts in Glenwood Springs or Montrose. Fortunately the Super Wal-Mart in Rifle saved the day.

He said his parents were afraid he would wear his tux to prom – a thought he remembers, good-naturedly, with relish.

“My mom told me all the time not to do it because she thought I’d look dorky,” he said. “But that’s kind of the point.”

They were hits, of course, building the kind of legend that high school memories are made of.

Scott Condon’s e-mail address is scondon@aspentimes.com