"Basically, I didn't have anything to do at recess. I would just walk around," the fifth-grader at Brownstown Elementary School said. "I used to play kickball, but everyone fights during that game."

Three months ago, Jordan found a solution to his playground woes: a pair of knitting needles and a ball of yarn.

Jordan is one of four boys in Brownstown Knitters Club; its 40 fifth- and sixth-graders spend their lunch recesses making blankets and accessories.

Jordan said knitting beats recess hands down.

"Knitting is in my blood," he said. "My grandma and my great-grandma knit."

Fifth-grader Mia Pha is one of the fastest knitters in the club. She quickly caught on to knitting. "I just wanted to learn. It's relaxing," Mia said.

Her classmates -- Madeline, Angelica, Tia, Hannah and Julia -- agree with her. They said knitting takes their minds off their problems and is a nice reprieve from schoolwork. "It's better than playing video games or watching TV. That's what I used to do at home," fifth-grader Emma Anstine said.

Chris McCleary, a guidance counselor at Brownstown, started the knitting club six years ago to help a group of rambunctious girls stop harassing one another and start communicating.

"They were constantly undermining each other," McCleary said. "I thought, 'I have to give them something to do.' ''

A lifelong knitter, McCleary asked the girls if she could teach them how to knit. About a month later, McCleary said the girls were not only on their way to becoming skilled knitters, they also were changing their negative behavior.

"They started helping each other," McCleary said. "I heard the girls say, 'I can help you with that.' ''

McCleary said the students also began to open up. "They brought their problems, too, and we talked about what they should do," she said.

Brownstown Knitters meets every lunch recess from December until mid-April in McCleary's guidance office.

Supplies for the club are paid for with monetary donations from Conestoga Valley Educational Foundation, the school PTO and Kitnit Needlecrafts on Olde Hickory Road.

Since 2002, the club has been making baby blankets for The Linus Project, a national program that provides handmade blankets to sick children.

Sixth-grader Nelly Dimov, who likes making "funky" things such as scarves, said she likes being part of the club because it supports children. "We knit for a good cause," she said.

Nelly said she also has formed good relationships with her peers. "There's a kind of bond created by getting together and making something for a sick kid," she said.

This winter, the knitters not only made a blanket for The Linus Project, they also made a baby blanket for the school principal, Kelly Cartwright.

Students planned to surprise Cartwright with the pastel-colored blanket on Friday during a school party.

But Cartwright went into the hospital to deliver the baby earlier that day.

Now students will have to wait to give their principal the baby blanket, but they are keeping busy making all sorts of accessories, such as colorful choker necklaces, scarves and purses.

Keya Summers, a sixth-grader, recently has completed knitting a choker. Now she is knitting a scarf. "Nelly gave me the idea," Keya said. "It sounded cool to me."

Fifth-grader Shannon Helm knitted three purses. "I thought it would be something that would be fun and interesting," Shannon said.

McCleary never imagined the knitting club would become so popular or such a positive outlet for fifth- and sixth-graders.

"I didn't expect it to get to this point," McCleary said.

Jordan, who used to detest recess, now finds he looks forward to it so he can indulge his new hobby. "I like to see that I'm getting something done," Jordan said. "It's neat to make things."