CLOSE(D) KNIT

Hipster-in-Chief Ella Emhoff Forced to Cancel Knitting Club Over Security Risks

Emhoff's Soft Hands Knit Club is on pause “to protect myself and the other club members... until things calm down,” she confirmed on social media.

Among multihyphenate creative—and potential First Stepdaughter—Ella Emhoff’s many talents is her love of a good yarn. The 25-year-old has in recent years run a knitting “crew” in New York City, where she resides; her Soft Hand Knit Club has put on group lessons and pop-up events to help knitters develop their craft and build community. But the pressures that come with the public eye amid her stepmother Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign mean she's now having to put down her needles. In a video Emhoff shared this week on Instagram, she confirmed the club is now on hiatus “to protect myself and the other club members... until things calm down.” Depending on her definition of “calm,” and the results of November’s election, that could be a while, even considering the secret service detail which she has been assigned. “I'm going to keep working on ways to make [Soft Hands] more accessible and keep building it while I'm not able to properly teach and host,” Emhoff continued. “I just want to say thank you to everyone who's been here with me so far.”