bagging it

The kids came up with a great idea for the last day of school - bags that they could have their friends sing.

They looked at me with their bright shining eyes and asked ever so sweetly, every so slyly if I couldn't help them sew the bags they had in mind.

My studio is mid-renovation (as it has been for month) my supplies are scattered about the house. I have no idea where any suitable material is, but they are so earnest and it is the end of second grade.

I sacrificed a pillow case. Finding time was another matter. One sweet child , friend of dd, gave up movie time to sew hers! The other, my own dd, managed to squeeze it in just before bed time on the night before the last day of school. (a little too much like me sometimes) and that left just the bag for the one who couldn't stay to finish the project. Which meant me up late sewing a little bag the night before the last day of school!

It's on them to remembe the permanent markers and get the signatures!

class addendum

I was supposed to be paid for the class. It's not that I care all that much about the money. Money is good, don't get me wrong, but I certainly wasn't doing it for that. Still, money buys yarn and yarn is good. The problem is that I'm not a teacher and most of the people who do the afterschool program are so they didn't know what to do with me. First, I had to fill out reams of paperwork. Then, I had to go on line to take an ethics course that all government employees have to take. It was part course, part quiz with tough questions like if you are on the planning board is it okay to take money from someone who is applying for a building permit? Do they really think that the people taking bribes are doing so only because they don't know any better? And, if you're the sort who would take a bribe, is taking a course going to change your mind?

I was a little worried about not passing, but it turns out that if you get the answer wrong, you get to go back and fix it. Whew. I don't always perform well under pressure.

I've finally taken the test, but I still have to go back to the office with the document to prove it. Until then, no money. No money, no yarn. I sort of kind of have my eye on this Cashmere I saw in Connecticut a few months back. The shop had the softest, prettiest stole I've ever seen. The pattern takes just two skeins. At a mere $50 each, that would pretty much be the entire check. This project would definitely require lifelines!

My latest accomplishments lately have been in the sewing room rather than on sticks:

These were for a Birthday swap sent to a fellow Red Sox fan. The flat bag clips on to a loop inside the tote. The draw string project bag has a zippered pocket on the outside. It's from a tutorial on bag designer Terry Atkinson's blog. Very fun pattern and much less complicated than it looks

Thank goodness for spit splicing

I have sadly said goodbye to my blossoming knitters, although that is a somewhat generous description. Only one child actually finished a project. It was a very small and very lopsided little coin purse. But she was as proud as if it were a high end fashion designer handbag, as she should have been, of course.

The problem in finishing the project was that she, on the advice from another student, had cut the yarn after she finished the last row. One of the best decision I made, however, was to use not-superwash real wool. That meant a little bit of spit (ewwww, say my students) and a lot of rubbing and we're back on our way to casting off. (A friend pointed out that I could have used the crochet cast off, but that's a new one to me).

A few of the other seemed to sort of get the idea. I think a couple more weeks or a couple more hours of sitting with them and they would have gotten it. They could all do it with some help, but sadly, I can't split myself into seven! At least they all seemed to have fun, and at the end of the day, isn't that the most important thing? Next year or in a few years when they see some needles and yarn, I hope they remember liking knitting and that they believed me when I told them they could do it. I would do it again in a heart beat. I don't think I would do much differently. It just takes time.

The teacher learns

I must admit that my capacity for patience has been exceeded by several of my young pupil's lack of fine motor skills and abilityto focus. A couple of the second graders have gotten the hang of it but the others are struggling. They get the concept but they seem unable to bring the new loop through the old loop. I think they could get it with a few more lessons, but we have just one left. I had hoped we'd complete little purses or small bunnies, but now I'll settle for them being able to knit a few rows.

This last week, two students were absent attending communion rehearsal. I thought that would make things go more smoothly but amazingly, there was still an intense amount of energy. They are having fun and that is the most important thing. I, being ever driven, want them to learn and forge ahead, but I do recognize that they are only 7 and 8. There is plenty of time for them to pack their schedules so full that multi tasking will become a way of life. For now, they are goofy and happy to chase balls of yarn off the table and around the floor, so why not? They have years and years of productivity ahead of them.

Of course I want them to leave accomplished novice knitters. I want them to be able to cast on, knit and cast off with finesse, but that just is not possible for all of them right now. They have, however, learned to make a slip knot, finger knit and cast on. It's a good start. They've seen wool and they've been smitten with the wonderful colors. They have plans in their head for what they would like to make and they have a sense of how to do that. This is all good. So, though we're not as far along as I'd like, I think the class was a success for all of us. They learned some things about knitting and I learned a whole lot about teaching. I would do it again in a heart beat.

Patience Learned

I have gone through my life with the unexamined belief that patience is something you either have or you don't have. This class has changed my mind.

I think instead that patience is more like fitness - you can become more patient with practice and determination. Last week when I was trying to explain something for the fifteenth time, I could feel my frustration rising and sarcasm bubbling in my brain. But I took a deep breath and searched my brain for yet another way to explain the same thing.

Honestly, with five children, I've had a lot of practice with this patience thing. I'm not the most patient person in the world or even as patient as I would like to be, but I do believe I'm better than when I started. Maybe it comes from exercising empathy. The more you try to put yourself in another person's shoes, the more patient you can be with that person. That and deep breathing!

So far, all six students can make a slip knot and do the backward loop cast on. From there, we've got issues. One kid is going gang busters, but I think she came to class knowing how to knit. After demonstrating over and over and holding hands to show them the process, I think I finally hit on an explanation that works. I tell them there is an old loop on the left hand needle. Put the right hand needle through that loop. Wrap the yarn around the needle to make a new loop. Pull the needle through the old loop. Then the old loop can hop off the needle. I found that it seemed to work best if I stopped and asked them to point out several times where the old loop was and where the new loop was and then explain to me what had to happen.

I think at least three were getting the hang of it by the end of the class. Just two more to go. I wish I could sign them up for another 6 weeks, but summer is coming too soon!

My own knitting has been slowed by a need to detangle the yarn DP (dear puppy) tangled on a romp through the house. Amazing how much damage can be done in such a short time. It's taken literally hours. The thing that keeps me going is that it's strangely meditative and engaging. I wouldn't think detangling yarn would keep my attention, but it does. Not that I would recommend it.

I may be doing more of it - these girls in my class have managed to make some pretty snarly messes of the balls I sent home with them. I honestly didn't know it was possible to get yarn into the jumble that they've made!

Lessons learned class day 3

Okay, here is my big lesson for the day - if you are going to send 6 8yo's home with their own knitting needles, make sure to bring extras to the next class, because there will be some who don't remember to bring them back!

So I had four students with needles and two without. Time for plan B - how about more finger knitting? This time with more fingers. I hadn't expected to teach this, so I hadn't done a lot of practicing on it, which meant I was a little rusty. Thankfully, one of the students was quite adept at the technique. I had her demonstrate it figuring in part that she would speak their language better. Low and behold, I learned something from her! My way of doing it involved wrapping the yarn around the fingers twice and then lifting the bottom strand over the top. She wrapped four times and then lifted the bottom two over the top. This makes for a thicker cord.

Only one student had done any significant knitting over the break - she had three inches on the needles already. A couple had at least remembered how to do the backward loop cast on.

I worked with three students who had needles on the actual knittng. Holy mokes does this take a lot of patience and then some! I explained, I demonstrated, I explained, I literally held their hands. I don't mind at all, but I can sense them getting frustrated with themselves. I know they want to just be able to knit, but as with so many things in life, we just have to go through the process of learning how first. And then, we have to practice, practice, practice to get good at it.

Despite the challenge, they all seem to be having fun.

I have been getting just a little knitting done myself. This friendly croc was a gift for my nephew. I have to admit that I started it in July. I am happy to say that it took just 9 months...

This sweet little doll is from a eleather for a Ravelry Wee Swap. Isn't she just darling? The hat has a tiny little flower on it. And that itty bitty sock just blows me away.

Class Day 2

I thought I was fully prepared to face my seven little will-be knitters having already gotten a taste of their rambuctioness and silliness. I spent more than an hour making balls of yarn I bought for the class (note that if you want to turn one skein of Cascade 220 into three, it's 220 feet per ball. Being a bit math challenged, I actually converted to feet and then divided by three to get the number of feet I needed!) I even untangled bunches of yarn that had become nearly hopelessly tangled by dp (dear puppy) during an unsupervised romp. I then diligently printed out instructions and practiced. I opted for the long tail cast on figuring that it is a quick way to get loops on the needle and it would be easy enough for them to learn quickly.

HAH! HAH! and HAH HAH!

I had it all broken down into easy peasy steps - or at least what I thought were easy peasy steps. I was met with a uniform chorus sung by seven of, "Huh? What are we supposed to do? I don't get it." When I started to hear "I can't knit," I started to get worried. I know that a kid can get discouraged easily if she feels she can't accomplish the goal.

Thirty minutes into the class, I scrapped the cast on and switched to the backward loop. I don't like it for learning since it's so loose, but there wasn't time to teach the knitted cast on and I really needed them to make some progress. It's relatively easy to learn - certainly easier than what I was trying to do anyway. Most of them got it but we had just 15 minutes for the actual knitting part. I can now definitively report that this is not nearly enough time. Just as my young students were sort of starting to get it, their parents were arriving to take them home. I guess the good thing is that none of them wanted to leave when the class was over! (My apologies to all parents who were in a hurry)

We now have a two week hiatus for Spring Break. I wonder if some parents are going to learn how to knit just so they can help the kids along?

I need to remember to get more pink yarn. I probably could have gotten away with getting only pink yarn!

This is a good exercise for me in seeing how far I've come as a knitter. I remember those early, frustrating days of wanting to whip through even just a simple square. I also remember becoming totally addicted once I finally got the hang of it. Now I'm just trying to spready the love!

Knitting Kids

I think there are exactly 52 ways to mess up a slip knot and my seven students discovered each and every one of them. I expected that teaching this fundamental element of knitting might be a little challenging, but I didn't realize it would take up more than half of the class.
They are, at least, an enthusiastic bunch of girls who got just a little frustrated at not getting the knot immediately. Mostly they just seemed to have fun trying. I will say that I am glad there are no more than seven, however!
I tried showing them everyway I could think of - setting the loop on the table, wrapping the yarn around their hands and wrapping it just around their fingers. There are just only so many ways to explain it. We had barely enough time to learn that and basic one-finger finger knitting. I'd hoped to move on to four-finger finger knitting but that just wasn't going to happen. I also made the grave mistake of thinking that 15 minutes was enough time to teach pompoms. Oh no, not by a long shot. I was frantically trying to tie off bundles of yarn one at a time when parents were arriving and wondering (like I used to) why the teacher was taking so long to send them to the lobby! I think I sent everyone home with at least a little bit of yarn to practice on.
The highlight was when the cooking class in the next room started to get loud. One little girl said, "They're out of control. We're calm because we're knitting. Knitting calms you down."
Yes, that's a large part of why I knit it calms me down (when I'm not getting frustrated from having read the pattern wrong or dropped a stitch while frogging.)
P.S. I will confirm that it generally helps if you read the directions. I finally did that for the yarn meter - now I know why my count was so far off!

Math?

So I've chosen four bright colors of Cascade 220. I have 7 students. That means splitting up skeins. That means I finally get to use the yarn meter my wonderful husband bought me for Christmas (with heavy hinting). The thing is, it measures feet. Skeins and patterns are in yards. I know, how hard can it be - three feet to a yard, right? It's just that I can't do these things in my head. I tried to recruit DS into helping, but he was too absorbed with posting to facebook.

Class starts tomorrow. Finger knitting and pom poms? I'm planning on saving the Cascade for the real project. I'll get them started with my scraps. I don't have much left - I'd given away bunches to my older daughter's class before I knew I'd be doing this. Even so, everywhere I look there are little bits!

So, will they knit outside of class? I probably shouldn't expect that. They have a lot going on and homework, plus moms who probably don't knit.

I'm excited and nervous all at the same time!

Indecision Central

It's all well and good to think about teaching knitting in the abstract. Teaching one-one-one is pretty simple -round up some needles and spare yarn. But now I've got a real class on my hands. A class that needs structure and organization. And supplies.

I have a hard enough time picking out yarn and patterns for myself and now I have to do it for six little people I've never met! White? Pink? Blue? Purple? Verigated? Wool? Superwash? Six skeins of the same color? Six different colors? I've loaded, unloaded and reloaded my virtual shopping cart several times already! I'm spending more time stressing about this than I will spend teaching.

I forgot that I don't like this part of teaching a class - choosing the supplies. This is the only thing I don't like about teaching beading classes. I drive myself crazy trying to make sure that I'll have the right color for everyone.

In this case I have just $10 per student and six weeks so I have to think ahead to the projects.

The class starts Tuesday.

Game On

I got word today that at least six young'uns have signed up for my little o' knitting class, so here we go...it's all too real now. I have to get serious. I have to plan. I have to buy supplies. I have to figure out what I'm doing so I can show them!

I think I'm going to start with finger knitting. It's a little more like crochet than knitting but it's yarn and loops so I figure it's a good introduction. I've been practicing. I made my daughter and her reluctant friend learn and I cornered a 9-year-old in the waiting room.

I think I've got the slip knot down - make a pond (loop the yarn into a circle) and then go fishing (for the yarn).

Then on to the finger knitting - still working on that explanation.

So that is either the first ten minutes or the first class. I really have no idea how fast (or slow) these kids will catch on. Then what? One seasoned instructor suggested casting on for them. Then once they learn to knit, it's easier to teach the knitted cast on.

I think a book mark to start - maybe knit the long way so they can have long rows. Then a small bag maybe? Pot holder? Head band? Oh my goodness, I'm actually going to have to make decisions about what someone else will knit? I have a hard enough time deciding what I should knit!

I also have to buy supplies. Needles, of course. Yarn, obviously. Needles? Pins? Ruler? Row Counter? What's absolutely essential?

This should be interesting...

Marine life

For those who are big on things small, Ravelry has a wee-sock exchange group. Every month, members are paired up to exchange tiny footwear and other goodies all in good fun. The theme for March was marine life. This is certain to spark some creative thinking since socks don't normallygo swimming, right? My partner certainly got creative with a mermaid sock, a seahorse and a starfish. Amazing what yarn can be turned into.

Instruction

I usually say I learned to knit a few years back when my little ones were littler. I rememered recently, however, that I really learned to knit when I was a youngster. There were some community classes offered at the local school. My parents took woodworking and I took knitting. I started but never finished a pair of mittens.

Still, maybe that early instruction set a pathway in my brain that made it easier when I took it up as an adult. So, I feel it's only fair to pay back. Which means that when I found out they couldn't find a kntting instructor for an after school program at my daughter's school I felt obliged to raise my hand.

Do I have enough patience? We'll see. First, we need to have at least six kids. If that doesn't happen, I'm off the hook. Not that I really want to be. I'm kind of excited about this. I did successfully teach Z to knit at age 7.

I think we'll start with finger knitting - it's essentially crochet without a hook. I decided today to experiment on my daughter and her friend. The slip knot was much harder for them to learn than I expected. The rest was a little bit trickier than I anticipated as well.

I will, however, have six weeks.

I'm now scouting for simple, quick patterns. Any suggestions are welcome.

Something is fishy

The theme for the Wee Sock exchange this month was marine life.

Initially, I was thinking about a mermaid sock with a flipper but it morphed into a tiny flipper sock. Very much fun to design on this scale - everything goes so quickly.

I am also going to take credit for the warm spell as of late. I just finally finished a pair of half mitts to match my cabled hat. I've been wanting to make these all year round, but just recently got to it! Now, we're ready for shorts, hah hah.

I keep telling the kids that they have to put their things away or the puppy will get it. Now, in my defense, this yarn was sort of put away - it was in a stuffed in a bin. Apparently, it's great fun to tip over the bin and pull out and then scatter the contents. DH says Purl just wishes she had thumbs so she could knit!
And the rest of this isn't Purl - it's me. We impulsively decided to renovate the office/studio. At first it was going to be just some paint, but it was going to be so much work to get the room ready for that, we decided to gut the room! At this point, most people would sort and then pack everything up. But it had taken us so long to get to this point, we were afraid we would change our minds if we didn't decisively launch into the project. I moved everything out of the room as fast as possible while Dh chiseled ugly green tiles off the walls putting us well past the point of no return.
This isn't the most organized way to become organized, but sometimes, you just have to take a leap. Already, I've sent all (yes I said all) of the knitting magazines to my daughter's school, where they have a knitting school. I've also packed up several bags of material and at least two unfinished projects for a charity pick up. These are things that have been in my closet for years and years. I feel some angst at sending them away being taught to always finish what you start. But I don't want them anymore. I'm not sure that I ever did. Sometimes I think I start things just to see if can do it and once I know I can, I lose interest. Of course, by this time I've usually invested beaucoup $$ and hours into the project. So it's tempting to just tuck it away for some day when I have hours and hours of extra time on my hands (as if that day will ever come). This time, however, I'm letting go of the guilt and the stuff to make way for new stuff and, hopefully, a wave of creativity.
I will keep my favorite yarn books and the good yarn that I've collected. I've come to the belief that yarn isn't just for knitting - it's for collecting too. It's good to be surrounded by wonderful yarn. I hope someday to find the right project for all of it, but in the meanwhile, I'll just enjoy the color and the texture and the potential it holds.

dog gone it

Isn't she cute? It's gosh darn lucky for her that she is, cause...

This is how I think yarn should be:

This is how my puppy Purl thinks it should be:

Thankfully, it isn't one of those kinky yarns that folds in on itself and gets all tangeld so I was able to undo the damage with relative ease. (Thank goodness also for the ball winder - if I didn't already have one, I'd certainly be getting one!)

I'm not sure what this yarn will become. I bought it for the capitan's hat, but in looking at the pattern again, I think it is just a tad too bulky. Maybe the yarn harlot's unoriginal pattern.

mousies

Not only are these mice fun to knit, it turns out they are great toys for standing in line at Disney World! Dd was perfectly content to set up an entire fantasy world while we slowly moved along waiting for the next ride or show. That made everything more pleasant. The last picture is the wildlife at Disney. What a great place to be a squirrel!

The pattern for the mouse can be found at
http://yarnigans.vox.com/ Just scroll down a ways. The doll is a blast to knit too - pics coming soon.

One of my prizes for finishing the sweater was a great apron and a bunch of cupcake cooking supplies, which arrived today just a head of the kiddos getting sent home early for a giantsnow storm (which was just rain for most of the afternoon)

Perfect activity. Some how, miraculously, I had all the ingredients for the cupcakes – but just enough butter. I used a “Boston Cupcake” recipe that called for mace, which adds great flavor. I filled up the 12 baking cups as the recipe specified and wondered briefly why I had extra batter, but I figured that happens. Well, half way through the cooking time I figured out why - I’d added twice as much milk as called for! It turns out, however, that this is okay, it just takes way, way, way longer to cook! But they are so worth the wait.

Then for the frosting – again miraculously, we had enough powdered sugar, but not really enough butter. I found a recipe that would work anyway – hot water and powdered sugar, but why stop there? I added what little butter I had left, some milk and Fluff! I can’t say that I’ve ever seen a frosting recipe calling for Fluff, but it works pretty darn good. The kids loved it. Of course, how could they not with all that sugar?

If you're interested, here's the recipe:

2 tablespoons of hot water, 1 tablespoon of vanilla in a bowl.

Mix in 2 cups of powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

Add 2 tablespoons of melted butter and 2 tablespoons of half and half (or milk)

Add 1/3 to 1/2 cup of Fluff

Add another 1/2 cup of powdered sugar if it doesn't look thick enough.

Add a few dabs of food coloring if desired.

It occurred to me later that I could just have used the fluff.

Haiti

I've had no time to post and little time to knit because I've been doing double duty around here. DH was sent to Haiti last Friday to write about Harvard's humanitarian efforts there. After reading what he has written, I'm glad he went. He is a marvelous writer who can show readers with his words what he sees. And, it's so important to see what is going on there! These doctors have created hospitals out of virtually nothing. They are doing it on largely on their own dime. They didn't take the time to raise funds, they put up their own money and took off hoping to work out the finances later. They are giving up so much to take care of some of the poorest and neediest people in the world under some of the harshest conditions in the world. I may be giving up some free time, but it's nothing compared to what these people are enduring. If you are looking for a worthy cause or a way to help - this is it.

Al's first article:

FOND PARISIEN, HAITI — Nearly a month after a massive earthquake devastated Haiti, paramedic Anthony Croese looked into the crowd outside a destroyed orphanage near Port-au-Prince and spotted an emaciated baby cradled in his father’s arms.
The baby looked far too tiny for his eight months of life, and a short conversation explained why. His mother died in the Jan. 12 quake, and his father, Emilio Eliassaint, in the weeks since had been feeding him sugar water, devoid of the nutrients in mother’s milk.
Croese, who feared the baby wouldn’t survive long on such a diet, bundled him into a car and sent him to a field hospital that has sprung up amid the thorny trees and dried grass at Fond Parisien, near the border with the Dominican Republic. full article

Mousie Mania

What could be better to follow up a long complicated pattern than a really quick easy one? Enter the mouse. I found it during the great sweater race and even enticed Allison to take a side tour to knit one (sorry about that).

This one is for a special certain 4 year old who loves yellow!

Check out this site: http://yarnigans.vox.com/ for the mouse pattern, a darling bear pattern and a delightful doll.