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Ella Emhoff has revealed she has been forced to give up her knitting club over security concerns since her stepmother launched her presidential bid.
With Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign going full steam ahead, the 25-year-old budding fashion designer’s life has been turned upside down in more ways than one.
Her stepmother’s political ambitions have led Emhoff to, unfortunately, suspend Soft Hands Knitting Club meetings.
In a video posted to Instagram, Emhoff explained to her followers that, at least temporarily, she cannot continue the club due to ongoing safety concerns.
“I just wanted to quickly come talk about Knit Club and address how it’s moving forward. Unfortunately, with everything going on right now, I’m not able to conduct them,” she told her followers.
“To protect myself and other club members, the smartest thing is to hold off until things calm down.”
Emhoff – affectionately named the “First Daughter of Bushwick” – continued: “It has been amazing working on this and meeting all of you. It has felt so special to build this little community. I’m going to keep working on ways to make it more accessible and keep building it while I’m not properly able to teach.”
Although she assured followers that this was not the end of Knit Club, adding she would “be back,” she stressed that she needed to step away from the club for now.
Fans were heartbroken in the comment section of the video – but were ultimately understanding.
“So upsetting to see a queen can’t even have the safety teach people to KNIT. The world is insanity and I pray for ur safety girl! Ur a gem,” one person wrote.
“I’m sorry you have to stop something you love for now,” someone else added. “There is so much love in the world for you now too - remember that.”
“You are going to rock as First Daughter. Do whatever you think is right,” one user wrote, while another added: “next knit club will be on the WH lawn.”
Emhoff has become a favorite among voters, especially after she delivered a speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) earlier this month.
Emhoff took the stage alongside the vice president’s niece Meena Harris, and Helena Hudlin, the VP’s goddaughter, to deliver a heartwarming story about Harris’s relationship with her father, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.
“Kamala came into my life when I was 14, famously a very easy time for a teenager,” she joked to the crowd at the time.
“Like a lot of young people, I didn’t always understand what I was feeling, but no matter what, Kamala was there for me. She was patient, caring, and always took me seriously. She’s never stopped listening to me and she’s not going to stop listening to all of us.”
Her parents, Doug and Kerstin Emhoff, divorced in 2009. Harris – who Ella and her brother Cole affectionately refer to as “Momala” – married Doug in 2014.
