knitting class

as promised here are pictures of the kids from knitting during PSSAs. I won't name them but you can see how
they're working and loving it.




Everyone started their own rectangle. We used the knitted cast on. Once they could cast on knitting itself was as breeze. It seems as though the disease is contagious. :-D I have kids coming to me every day for yarn and needles.











Friends teaching others how to knit. What an epidemic!Even the art teacher has joined in. She's a knitting maniac now! I hope they continue to knit for the rest of their lives.


But more importantly, I hope the importance of charity sticks. That lesson is far more valuable than anything musical I can teach.

The flock grows

I knit another peep last night. This one is for one of the boys, which means I have one more to do for this family. Of course, I had a request for one from a colleague today because I took the pink one in to show off. And I thought hmmm if I put a bell inside, it would be a really cute baby gift... so I may do that for our school nurse! This time it was knit with Crayon by KnitPicks in light blue.

My kids at school are like knitting machines... I think there must be at least a dozen that have needles and yarn from my room... and kids that weren't even in the calss are coing in to get some cuz their friends have taught them to knit.

OK... off to make breakfast. Happy Saturday and happy crafting!

at last!

I can finally post the picture for the Monthly Dishcloth KAL


Pattern: Basket cloth by Andi Worthy
Yarn: Lily's Sugar and Cream
Color: Jewels
Needle Size: 7

I could have gone down to a size 6. The switching between Knit and Purl opens it up a bit. But I like how it turned out. What I really like is how it matches one of my IKEA dish towels in color almost perfectly. I hadn't even thought about that... I'll have to make more cloths in this color.

Today was a much better day at knitting class. When the time was over I only had to fix 3. Of course, as usual, the entire time is spent tinking or fixing YOs or picking up dropped stitches, but now as we do it, we're explaining to the kids what they did to make it happen and how to fix the problem. There are the few that have NO confidence in themselves and need constant reassurance but are making no mistakes. Tomorrow is the last day of the formal classes, but I think I'm going to try to continue this somehow with these kids. I have kids from last week's class carrying around their own yarn and needles this week. It's so cool to see!

happy crafting

Update on knitting

I forgot to mention that at school yesterday 6 of my new knitters didn't show. There was a miscommunication between them and their teachers, so after school on Monday during chorus rehearsal I had 2 students ask if they could come to knitting even though they weren't on the list. Thinking I was down 6, I said sure! Well of the six, 4 of them came and another asked if she could trade spots with one that had been missing... add to that one more and I wound up with 8 new knitters today! Total = 26! My helper is a champ... she totally rocks. I grabbed the newbies, she took the fixes... Now mind you, every single one of them stopped first thing in the morning to grab their knitting to do when they were on down time from the test. I had all fixed but 2. So tonight I had to bring home 12 projects to pick up stitches here and there or to fix YOs or spots where they had knitted in the stitch below.....The picture on the left is what's ready to go back to school tmrw. I had to make sure that all were ready to go, because this group is REALLY enthusiastic. It does my heart good. :-D

On another note, I wanted to post a picture of Lily's fleece as it had been shorn off of her instead of crammed into the little box. That way you can see what a beautiful fleece she produces.

And last but not least, the cloth I did today (no not at work, after I got home)

Pattern: Right Angles Dishcloth by DilysSutherland Dishcloth Fun Mid March KAL
Yarn: Lily's Sugar and Cream
Color: Rosewood
Needle: Size 7 bamboo DPNS

I still can't post my cloth from the Monthly Dishcloth Group KAL because they haven't finnished. They should be done Wednesday but for me that's tmrw cuz I need to sleep. I'll put it all up tmrw night.

DS1 went to the dr. today. He seems to have a slight case of Pneumonia. SO he's on a wicked strong antibiotic. He's been sleeping so much and not eating hardly at all, which is so unlike him on both counts. DH has been home with hhim since Friday, but I can't not go in this week with the knitting thing.

I'm falling asleep at the keyboard.. .time for bed.
Happy crafting

More fleece

My rambo cross arrived today.. and boy is she a beaut. So soft and smells incredibly good... if you're reading this Holly, I kid you not, it was like a sweet smell when I opened the box. It's crammed packed with soft white Lily fleece. The name of the sheep is Lily...Now I really must stop buying fiber... both raw and spun! At least for a bit HAHA

Holly included a bit of roving from the fleece that she had washed up and flicked with her combs. This will give you an idea of how beautiful this yarn's potential is in the right hands... hope that I can do her justice!

Well week 2 of knitting class started today. I had all new kids. One had her grandma give her a crash course yesterday and today she was FLYING! Another boy had knitted before so he was doing well. I had only 1 leftie, but was well armed and taught her alone... in a true left handed fashion. And I had preloaded the knit stitch video from knittinghelp.com from home, so they got to watch that first off. PLUS, my cohort in crime is an experienced knitter. All in all, it went much much better, and the time really flew... 80 minutes with a large group of new knitters is nothing. I stayed after my chorus rehearsal a fixed a few YOs and dropped stitches and brought only 2 or 3 home to fix for the night.

The boys still have a low-grade fever. I think DS2 is just starting and DS1 is on the mend... hopefully they can tough it out tmrw. Poor kids. They were doomed... 2 weeks ago at my school we were missing 16% of the student body (that's like 110 kids) on one of the days. The rest of the days weren't as bad, but still were high in absenteeism.

I finished the Monthly Dishcloth KAL tonight but can't post a picture because they are about 19 rows behind me. I'll put in a little teaser though. I can start on one of the other KALs now that this one is finished :-)

Happy crafting!

Haiku

As I sit, trying to untangle a mess that one of my knitters made with a center pull ball (don't ask me how, I don't know.... she took it home as a center pull and brought it back the next day a rats nest) I was thinking of haiku that I could compose that would describe the last weeks experience.



teaching kids to knit:
dropped stitches and yarn overs
all test my patience

Balls of yarn
wound as center pull
seemed to me a great idea
why is it a mess?



It was a wonderful experience and taught me so much about knitting and fixing mistakes. Gave me a newfound confidence to try things out in my own knitting. But 21 beginners to handle alone in only 80 minute segments is too many!

wish me luck for this week!

pictures, finally

Well first let me post a picture of the dishcloth I completed the other day.

Pattern: 3 Cherries cloth by Judith Prindle
Yarn: Lily's Sugar and Cream
Color: Light Blue
Needle Size: 7

I'm thinking of gifting this to my neighbor who I gave a lacy blue cloth to a few weeks back. Her kitchen is blue and they'd look nice together.

Now to go backwards in time... Sunday's post spoke about some little marble magnets DD and I crafted together. We gifted a half dozen to the hostess of the Purim party that we attended that evening. I packaged them in an Altoids gum tin. The picture really stinks, but there are two that have a rather nebulus design, one in purples and the other in oranges and one that is striped. The other three have a flower theme (think spring) One is a drawing of a bird perched on what could be a magnolia or cherry blossom tree, the next is a grouping of yellow flowers (I have some in my garden... you would think I'd know the name) and the third is a stylized purple flower with yellow center. The last one shows up best in the picture... I should get a better camera I guess...It takes great regular shots but really crappy close ups..


I also plied 225 yards of romney last night. I put it on the skein winder to measure tonight and stretch... It looks pretty good even if I say so myself. Today my 5+ pounds of Ramboullet came from the Callens farm The fleece is incredible clean.. I mean truly clean. Barely any VM in it. I was so impressed And the crimp is so fine.. I can't even begin to count it... I think about 16 per inch...I can't wait to dig into it!

I washed a couple pounds of Targhee tonight... started it last night but it's on the drying rack now..

The good news is Day 3 of knitting class went very well. Yesterday was better than the first day. I brought home less to fix. Today, I brought home little to fix and actually let most of the kids take it home with them to work on. They told me we don't have homework we need something to do.. Comments from today were: This is so much fun, I like knitting, Are you going to do this again next year?, Couldn't we have a knitting club after school, It's really relaxing and other kids that aren't involved asked me about next year as well... so I think all in all it's pretty successful and that makes me feel great! Finally teaching them something that they can see value in, because music well it's fun for them, but it's different.

I've survived

day 1 of knitting class. The kids were so cute.. and so many YOs... I told them it was an advanced technique and they weren't allowed to do it LOL That and a few dropped stitches... oh well.. tmrw will be better.

I had pictures to post, but don't know where DH put the camera to upload them. I did a different crafty thing yesterday. I made those little marble magnets. We went to a Purim party (it was a week late) and I wanted to take something to the hostess besides the food and wine we were bringing along. So I made a half dozen spring motif ones for her... and some cute ones for us as well... 2 winter, 2 sport and 5 ducks all in a row. They are so fun to make. Guess the pictures will have to wait until later.

OK.. off to put the finishing touches on my chopstick knitting needles... maybe it will make it easier for my little cherubs tmrw!

happy crafting!!!!