Monday, June 27, 2011

5 Fridays went too fast

 It's hard to believe but the five Friday's that I spent with the Homework Club are now over.

I went into the teaching of the children figuring that they weren't going to take my heart but boy was I wrong.  I had such a good time spending an hour each week with the group of children that I was not happy to see it end on the 24th.

I taught 26 children the basic knitting skills in groups of 6 or 7 over 4 weeks and then this last week was just spending some time with some of the children making sure they understood. The children ranged from grade 1 to grade 5 and most weeks I had a mixture of the grades so that made it a little more fun.  Some of the group caught on quickly and others took a bit longer but after three weeks I had a couple of the previous students helping me with the younger ones.


This last Friday I had 10 of the group in the room with me just knitting and going over the simple problems they were having.  The card you see is large and I love it as it was signed by a lot of the group that I taught and it was presented to me by the group.

The roses were given to me by the two ladies that run the Homework Club as a Thank You from them.  Their comment was "I took a child, handed them a pencil and get them to write a paragraph in one day".  I guess that is true because I got the child to cast on, and knit garter stitch within an hour most weeks.

The boys and girls did extremely well in their knitting and seeing their faces meant more than words could say.  Yes, hearing "Thank You, I really appreciated you teaching me to knit" was great but seeing the smile and look of satisfaction was even better.  The hugs I got also showed me that they had a great time.

I hope that I will be able to go back in the fall to the Homework Club but at least I know that I will be seeing the children around the neighbourhood over the summer.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Knitting with Kids

Last Friday I finished teaching the group of children how to knit and again had a wonderful time.  I had 6 in the group and 4 of them were boys so it made for an interesting bit of training for me.

I did help one boy finish the scarf that he had knit.  He just needed the ends sewing in so I helped him get that done so now his scarf is ready to be given to his teacher before the end of the school year.  Another boy had been working on his scarf and needed a bit of help so got him going again as well.

I am going back to the group this week to see how the scarves are going and help anyone that needs it before the group breaks up due to school finishing.  It is going to be fun to see how many of the scarves have actually been finished because so far I have seen 2 completed and a bunch more being worked on so Friday is the big day.

What I didn't realize is how  much these children were going to effect me.  I went in figuring I was just going to help them learn to knit but I have figured out that I am also teaching them patience and understanding.  Last Friday when I walked into the room I was greeted with a huge scream of "Miss Darlene is here" and most of the kids running over to tell me about their progress.  I am going to miss these kids after this week but at least I should see them in the neighbourhood.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Crown of Squares Progress

I know that I have been missing the last week or so and that is because I have been busy working on knitting hats again for the school readiness program and also learning together so haven't had much to show.

Saturday June 11
This weekend I did sit down and took most of Sunday to myself so here is what the results are.

Sunday June 12th
I have been working a little bit on crown of squares when I have taken a few minutes to myself but Sunday I decided that I was only going to work on it and let everything else wait.  I am so excited that I am now just one colour away from finishing this piece as I already have the next piece ready to go.

The next piece has a butterfly on it so that is why I want to get it started as soon as I can.  I am hoping that if I can sit and work on this piece one more long stretch I should b able to have it finished so maybe this weekend I will try and finish it.

As for the knitting classes I am having lots of fun with the children and now just have 6 more children to teach.  So far some have been making good progress on their scarves and others I am not sure as they haven't brought their knitting back to show me.  I hope that I can at least get 6 scarves out of 26 done but only time will tell.

Now to get some work done so that I can work on hats and crown of square later.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Week 2 of teaching kids to knit

Friday I went back to the centre to continue teaching the children how to knit.  I had 7 children this week and have to admit that I think this week went even better than last week.

The good news is one of the children from the first week came into the room to show me the progress on the scarf.  The scarf was finished and it looked great, so the first child to finish the scarf was a boy and it made me feel very happy.  I told him I was very proud of him and the look on his face was amazing.  Hearing the words "Thanks you so much for teaching me to knit" meant a great deal to me.  I am now going to put some more instructions together for him because he wants to try more.

This week I had 2 boys and 5 girls and by the time each of them left they were knitting at least a bit.  One of the boys asked if I had purple yarn because he wanted to knit the scarf for his teacher.  I really hope that this teacher appreciates the scarf because he is trying hard to make it look good for her.

So I have taught/shown 13 children how to knit so far and still have 13 to go over the next two weeks so we will see how many scarves actually get completed.

I wish more of the schools would teach the children basic craft and home skills.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Sketching

I know that I mentioned a few weeks ago that I finally picked up a sketch book and some pencils.  I haven't had a lot of time to try to draw but today I was sitting in the car waiting for husband while he was in one of his favourite stores and I got my small sketch book out.

Now before I show you the picture I know that there are some errors with the drawing but I figure I better post this before my husband does.  Yes the drawing was inspired by a Disney character.
So as you can see I still need a lot of practice but figured that I would post this one.  I also had a good talk with a friend over the Victoria Day weekend and he told me to "Go for it" so I did and here is my first drawing that I am happy enough to even post here.

Gerry, thanks for giving me the courage to try.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Kids and Knitting

Last Friday I had a chance to start teaching 6-11 year old children how to knit.  I have an hour each Friday until the end of the school year to teach the children.

Last week I had six children and I have to admit it sure was an interesting challenge.  One of the little girls knew how to knit so she was no problem.  I had two little boys in the group and one sure didn't want to try and the other one at least tried and his mom even got to see him doing a little bit.  The three girls that I had for most of the hour did ok and now this week I will see how much they actually got done.  I am looking forward to this week as I have another 7 children in the group so will see how it goes.

We are trying to have them make a scarf but I think even if the children can make a square they are going to be happy.  The scarf is just 16 stitches and it is garter stitch, yes a basic scarf so will see how it goes.

Need to get ready for this week's session and will see how it goes.