CHESAPEAKE — It’s the latest rage across the country: Knitting. Everybody from Julia Roberts to Deborah Norville knit. And the clubs that promote the art are popping up everywhere across the country.

And the eastern end of Lawrence County is no different. Both the Chesapeake and Proctorville branches of the Briggs Library are offering knitting clubs that are open to anyone interested in learning the art or wishing to improve their skills.

They can bring any project that they are currently working on. Or they can work on one the library is sponsoring. Right now that is making blankets for the homeless.

It is a way to learn a new skill or improve one’s facility while enjoying the fellowship of others interested in the same pastime, Debbie Smith of the Chesapeake branch says.

The next project after the blankets will be prayer shawls for those in hospices.

“It makes the people feel so good,” she said.

But it’s not just knitters who can come to the new clubs. Those who do or want to learn crocheting are also welcome.

The Proctorville club meets the second and fourth Thursdays of each month at 7 p.m. The next meeting will be Feb. 12. The Chesapeake club meets the fourth Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. That will be this Tuesday.