Last night after a long day at work a few of the gals from the office (sadly, we had no luck recruiting some of the guys) headed over to a nearby outdoor café where I tried for the first time ever to teach knitting. A good time was had by all, but I did realize how drastically under-prepared I am to teach knitting. First of all, I had three very willing and eager students. My friend B did some knitting once before and once I cast on and knit a row for her, she was off and running with a 7×9 inch garter stitch square. Wanting a challenge, Miss V, who’d never knit before, decided to tackle a square with alternating strips of garter (knit every row) and stockinette (alternate between knit and purl rows) stitch. In spite of her claims that she’s something of a savant at physical tasks like sports (and knitting, clearly!), I was quite impressed with her progress, both learning the techniques and figuring out how to fix her mistakes. By the end of the evening, she’d gotten through her first two “stripes” and was starting again on the garter stitch.
And then there was T. She started out strong, but pretty soon it was clear she was having a bit of trouble. B and Miss V were both working with KnitPicks Swish superwash – a simple yarn, easy to work with, and with only a mild inclination to splittiness. T, on the other hand, chose some Lion Brand Wool-Ease in a heathery color. I know I’ve said before that I’m the world’s biggest yarn snob – just the touch of acrylic gives me the heebies – but this poor girl’s struggle with the ridiculous and borderline-unusable frizziness of the yarn was enough to swear me off Lion Brand permanently.
It was something of a struggle to get these knitters going and keep them on track. There must be some (Oh my goodness . . . in the wake of Little Miss Law’s plea for proofreading today I caught this . . . yeah, knitting is “contagious,” but not like that) mnemonic pneumonic (something along the lines of loop, swoop and pull – I’m sure there are many) for the basic knit and pearl stitches. I found myself clumsily grabbing and twisting people’s hands quite a bit, and there were a few really silly moments when I was just shouting encouragement like a crazy soccer mom. Once we got going though, the knitters seemed to get the hang of things except for the occasional and fevered “help me!” pleas. I vacillated between simply fixing the knitting myself and trying to encourage self-help. There were certainly some crazy mistakes. T even managed to get the yarn completely wrapped around her piece of knitting about half-way through a row. I didn’t have the heart to explain that she’d discovered a technique it took me a week to figure out as part of the Frost Flowers & Leaves edging. B is an extremely careful knitter and, the most experienced of the bunch, seemed to have the easiest time making her way across the rows. My little star, Miss V, figured out how to slip her stitches to the other needle, making her way to mistakes and frequently fixing them.
The four of us, then three, then finally just two sat out in the open courtyard enjoying our meal, our knitting and some fun girl talk. Yarny goodness bringing people together . . . just the way it should be!
There are a few pneumonic (hey I learned a word!) for knitting in this post on craftster.org
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=185716.msg1942870#msg1942870
maybe it will help for next time!
We just started our first Knit Night last thursday. A good break from teaching middle school. Everyone had fun, told their friends and we are expecting some more tomorrow night. My experience as the knit instructor was a lot like yours. Everyone learns differently.. . good to be in the position of a beginner.
Peace Out
Way to teach! I had a similar experience with my mom; sometimes it’s hard not to show them, and others it’s hard not to let them fix things themselves. She got it, though! This is after dropping stitches, then ripping everything out because she couldn’t bear the imperfections. She also managed to knit an entire row using the tail from her cast-on, but thank goodness she was comfortable enough to just laugh that one off.
Happy knitting!
(And you do deserve something hand-knit and gorgeous for yourself!)
That’s awesome. I always think I’m gonna teach people horribly & I’ll explain it in a way they won’t understand or that they’ll hate me. People keep asking me to show them things so I guess I’m not as bad as I think lol. And I remember my stash was mainly caron simply soft and I just thought it was the cream of the crop. Don’t laugh….I’ve come a long way lol.
[...] And now to the good stuff: I have converted yet another knitter at work. Mrs. K has an insanely stressful job, and she was too crazed to make it to our knit-night, but she finally made it over to my cubicle for some knitting lessons. Nothing makes my cubicle buddy Cap laugh harder than when the ladies stop by for some knitting advice or to have me correct their mistakes. The best part is that the whole operation is somewhat stealthy, so they saunter down the hall to our little cubby area and then whip out the yarn and needles from under a jacket or stuffed into a pocket. The secrecy gives the knitting process that little something extra – just a little bit more fun – and so far it’s been a fun office-bonding experience. Pretty soon now the squares will be due, and I am a bit nervous because I want everyone to enjoy that fantastic feeling of creation and completion that comes when you bind off your final stitch. And if even one or two of my “students” wants to cast on again for a second project, well, all the better. I’ve got two squares done and two almost off the needles, so at least I’ll be able to make a substantial contribution myself to our charity blanket. [...]