Helps for How To Knit...

This week I organized a sort of "knitting circle--crocheting time--crafting hour" after school for any interested students. In the past few months I've discovered a number of students who are interested in "yarn arts" and either know how to knit and crochet or want to learn. When there's time in the day I've done some instructing and at this point the running total of kids under my tutelage is eight.... two others already know how to crochet and prefer that to knitting.

I passed on my copy of the Happy Hooker to one girl and she's gone crazy learning all kinds of new crochet stitches and brought samples in for all of us to see. We are still deciding if we want to make this a weekly thing or a twice a month thing but the turnout was good and the interest is there and in a school with limited extracurricular offerings, perhaps this sounds fun? I, of course, am delighted. One girl asked me "what is it with everyone knitting all of a sudden? How did this get started?" and I had to say actually, I think it's because of me. I believe when I get enthusiastic about something and show no restraint in talking about it and in this case, showing off my new yarns, needles, and finished products... I believe kids get excited too.

In case you, dear reader-friend, are interested in trying your hand at some knitting.... may I recommend a book or two that has GREAT visual instructions on how to knit... (actually, how to cast on, how to knit, how to purl, how to bind off, and much, much more)? A student discovered this book at the public library and I went back for the first one too so I could see where they differed. Chapter two in each is an identical informational chapter with great full color pics demonstrating step by step how to knit and I believe there may be additional skills offered throughout the rest of the book, if you are also interested in one for its patterns, I thought the knitgrrl 2 was a bit better in that regard. Check out the descriptions of them here.