The Last Knitting Class
It was a few weeks ago, but we've been really bogged down here by nasty flu and tummy bugs, so I'm only getting around to posting now...
My fourth and final lunchtime knitting club at the local school. (Ellery is graduating to junior high next year, so I won't be back next year...sniff)
Apologies in advance for the photos, I finally remembered to bring my camera on a day when knitting club was competing with a final rehearsal for the school play, so we were missing almost half of our members! Also, since the knit club is made up of minors...I've used the "witness protection eyebars" to conceal their identities. :-)
A few highlights and lessons learned from this year's knitting club:
Fresh eyes...fresh perspective. I promised to teach Miss K how to purl stitch "next week" since she had really gotten the hang of her knit stitches. At the next class, Miss K showed me her swatch of stockingette. "Who showed you the purl stitch?" I asked. "I figured it out myself...you just knit backwards" Miss K proudly told me. She hadn't turned her knitting around and purled the stitches, but knit left to right using knit stitches. One's first instinct is to correct the twisted stitches and show Miss K how to do purl stitches "the right way", but you really have to admire the process of deconstructing and reinventing the "backward" knit stitch. Definitely an engineer in the making!
There is always one student who really takes to knitting...
This year it was Miss C. Miss C started with a scarf...which ended up being 18 inches wide and about 6 feet long and was used as a shawl and a sarong. She moved on to skinny scarves, caps and freeform wraps. She is holding her interpretation of the Gingerbread Man from "Kids Knitting" by Melanie Fallick. It's awesome. Miss C taught herself pattern reading, increasing and decreasing from the book, has enviably even tension and is wildly creative...she is awesome.
Knitting isn't just for girls...
Once they get past the temptation to use the knitting needles as weapons (a very brief incident, really...) some of the guys take to knitting too! Manly primary colours and metallic needles are absolute must-haves.
Weaving in ends isn't icky when you're learning a new skill!
Nuff said!
Tangible Proof of Learning a New Skill
Much harder to demonstrate with reading, writing and arithmetic skills, but look at what you see from your first piece of knitting. This is Miss A's first attempt at knitting. Notice at the cast on edge...there are a few missed or loose stitches, but look at how quickly her tension evens out. At the very top of her knitting she was practicing some stockingette and mock cables!
Ok, it's not technically knitting...but finger chains are pretty fun to make
posted by Chelle @ 11:20 PM
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