Or in our case, knit. Teaching online continues to be a journey of innovation.
At last night’s Stitch and Chat™, Amy said she needed help in joining a new color, and normally that would be when she would pass her knitting to me. I told her to “go ahead and see how that works out for you”. Whereas in person I can take someone’s knitting in hand and show them or fix something, now I have to find a way to convey how the knitter can do/fix something themselves.
Christine reminded me of (one of my favorite quotes), “GIVE A MAN a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for his life time.” I tried to find the origin (I like research) and it is attributed to many cultures and people: Chinese Proverb? Maimonides? Lao-Tzu? Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie? Italian Adage? Native American Saying? Mao Zedong?
She’s making progress on all her projects. From top left, going clockwise:
- Radmere
- Marrakesh Express
- Feather and Fan
- Building in Color
Lynn continues to sew the panels of her Building in Color afghan.
She has cast on for the April Shawl with yarn from A Girl and Her Wool yarn in the colorway, “partly sunny”. It’s a very poetic combination. (Incidentally, her daughter is the dyer.)
Teaching via Zoom expands our capabilities out of necessity. Calann ripped out the V-Junkie sock she is knitting from the book Socktopus. When she reached the wrap & turn part of the heel, she had an internal conversation with herself…
It began with, “what would Pam do” (we need t-shirts and mugs).
Pam would put a marker after every wrap & turn.
Pam has told Calann to do this.
So she did.
Yuri joined us to learn how to substitute German short rows for the wrap & turn short rows in the Weekender Sweater . The subject appealed to Calann and Peggy as well. For both Peggy and Yuri we reviewed the language in their patterns and adjusted the numbers to reflect the different method.
Mary abandoned her Massallo Shawl. It wasn’t playing nicely. She had to rip it out many times and her yarn colors were not in the right spot. She asked me to find a pattern that would accommodate the yarn she had, DK weight yarn- approx. 50g/150 yards in 6 colors. I did a filtered Ravelry search and came up with the LGBTQ+Equality for Shawl. She is swatched and ready. If you are unfamiliar with how to do a filtered search on Ravelry, I have a class this Saturday at 11:00 am where we cover that and more.
Mary sent me a picture of a (ready to wear) top she liked (on the left). I showed her a top a designed that was fairly similar, the Bedford Top.
In the afternoon, I met with Cynthia, Esther, and Kelli. Kelli had a list of patterns to review starting with the Magical Thinking Poncho. She had finished the cowl and wanted to review the directions for increasing (it is knit from the top down.)
Next on her list was the Breathe and Hope, this pattern was part of a promotion for (what would have been) Local Yarn Store Day. I demonstrated how to work: K1b, Kfb, Kfbfbf.
Finally we looked over her Rebecca hat in progress. At first she (and I) thought she was off pattern. See what looks like a stitches gone awry in the middle?. After delving a little further we realized it was a design element and preparation for the cable.
Esther wanted to review how to make the holes in the Odyssey Shawl (top picture). Then we revisited the stranded rows of Crosshatch.
I leave you with a very funny compilation of zoom classroom shenanigans. I recommend watching through the kids passing the pencil. After that, stop the video.
Be Safe, Stay Well, and Just Keep Knitting.
