OBERLIN, OHIO Young folks discover knitting

Research confirms what knitters say about their hobby: it's relaxing.
OBERLIN, Ohio (AP) -- Knitting isn't just for grandmas anymore.
A growing number of young women have taken up the hobby as a way to relax, like Oberlin College sophomores Caitlin Cardina and Julie Haubenstock, who click away on knitting needles while studying.
"It de-stresses me so much that that's all I want to do," Haubenstock said. "In fact, it interferes with my work sometimes."
About 38 million people in the United States knit, according to the Craft Yarn Council of America. More young people are taking up the craft, with the percentage of women under age 45 who know how to knit rising from 9 percent to 18 percent over the past six years, according to the council.
The trend is showing up in Ivy League schools like Brown University in Providence, R.I., with its Knits of the Round Table and in northeast Ohio colleges like Oberlin and Kent State University.
'Relaxation response'
Knitting jump-starts the "relaxation response," a term coined by Harvard cardiologist Dr. Herbert Benson in the 1960s. Benson found repetitive mental activities like knitting could actually quiet the mind and body.
Research has also found that even 10 minutes of such routine activities lowers blood pressure, improves sleep and decreases anxiety, according to Joan Borysenko, former director of Harvard Medical School's Mind/Body program.
"The repetitive motion of the needles and the yarn quiets the mind and allows your naturally peaceful inner core to shine through," writes Borysenko, now a lecturer and author.
Mendon Kelrick, an Oberlin College junior who has been knitting since she was 15, brings her knitting to class.
"As soon as the professor hands out the syllabus and asks, 'Are there any questions?' I whip out my knitting needles," Kelrick said. "They don't seem to have a problem with it, as long as I share with the class what I'm making and how it's going."
Kelrick follows the unwritten etiquette: Always ask permission first.
"I've even been known to do it, too," admitted Jan Cooper, an Oberlin College associate professor of rhetoric and composition who sometimes allows knitting in her small seminars. "It helps me to listen better."
The Knitting Train
Knitting is a great stress-management technique, said Diane Britt, a psychologist at the Oberlin College Counseling Center, who started a project called The Knitting Train.
Now in its third year, the community service effort brings students and staff together throughout November and December to hand-knit hats and mittens for needy pupils at elementary schools near Columbus and in Oberlin.
Knitters and sisters Lori Michaels and Sandy Johnson opened Knit Happens! in September in the Cincinnati suburb of Oakley after Michaels decided she wanted to leave the corporate world.
"It's like a meditation," said 21-year-old Leah Durig, who shops at Knit Happens!
Durig, who also makes jewelry, said she picked up the craft a couple of years ago out of boredom and soon found that it was instantly gratifying.
Men do it, too
A growing number of men are also knitting up a storm.
David Church, a 34-year-old massage therapist who was working on a scarf at Knit Happens!, began knitting after stopping into the shop on a whim less than two months ago.
Church has made and sold more than 50 scarves since then, earning more than $1,000 and defying the notion that knitting is just women's work.
He said the bigger needles and chunkier yarns are almost manly.
"It's not all dainty, pastel stuff you'd buy at Jo-Ann Fabrics," he said.