Introducing Knit Club!

I launched a Knit Club at school. Holy Smokes! I tried offering knitting as an elective, but alas, Stitch Lab was so popular that the time slot could not be unseated for knitting. (Believe me, that is fine. The dedicated room and machines should be used to the fullest extent possible.) Instead, I found a way to squeeze knitting in as an after school club.

I have five girls who signed up. They are 10, 11 and 13 years old. One 11 year old chose to make a hat. The rest are making a small felted bag. (The pattern will be a modification inspired by The Fabulous Felted Tote. Our version for Knit Club will have one handle and be much smaller.) We picked colors, passed out the needles and got started with long tail cast-on.
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A hush fell over the room. I was so thrilled I almost exploded. They LOVED it. They were so focused and intense. (Let me just say that the Stitch Lab does not “fall silent”. There is a volume to the enthusiastic work and challenges.)

One friend cast on in about 4 minutes and was ready to knit. !!!! It was crazy! Another friend cast on so tightly that we could not move her stitches. They were so tight that we got the giggles. Alas, we, uhm, took scissors out, cut the stitches off and started over. She was SUCH a good sport. Knitting with kids is so refreshing. If they make a mistake, they just make it, move on and correct it. I saw so much less deflation and disappointment than I saw when teaching adults. The class is not a contest, even with themselves internally. There are sweet lessons to be learned there.  Learning something new is not a contest, even with yourself.

I am a little bit concerned that my speedy friend will come in tomorrow with a fully finished hat. If she does, I will be grinning from ear-to-ear.
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Go forth! Knit! And for heaven sake, be good to yourself. Allow the new skills to flood in.

Stay tuned for our Knit Club updates!

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9 years ago by in Crafting with Kids , Knitting , Needlecraft | You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
4 Comments to Introducing Knit Club!
    • Manisha
    • This sounds so wonderful-lovely! I wish I had something like this back when I was in school. At least I had sewing and cooking. Thanks for sharing those lessons learned about starting again and knowing that learning is not a contest. Side note: I had a friend who made everything a contest. If we were learning something together she was always rushing to finish even if the technique was wrong. Patience to learn the technique is going to serve these girls well. Good job, Susi!

      • Susi
      • Manisha – thank you for your kind words. I love the Knit Club more than I ever thought I would. There is such an energy in the room!
        There is some competition to “go fast”. And they to apply some pressure to themselves to finish. I see both of those. But they never applied pressure to themselves about how long it would take to LEARN. And, in the end, they learned faster than adults. So the pressure “we” all put on ourselves has the inverse affect. I taught 8 adults in 90 minutes, and I taught 6 kiddos in 60 minutes. Now, the projects were smaller, and there were less stitches to cast on. But I don’t want to minimize that they learned long tail cast-on, and the knit stitch, and joining in the round in an hour. And that included a discussion about A Mobius, what it is, and how to avoid it, with a paper model included!

    • Dot
    • And you’re starting with knitting in the round! They will never be afraid of it, now. It will be fun to see their progress.

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