designing a knitting class

[to_love_a_rose]

So apparently I'm teaching a friend to knit this Sunday. It randomly happened via text message today, and now I'm a little freaked because I have to actually...teach her. I taught myself with magazines and books over a period of about two years, so I know nothing about the process of sitting down and learning to knit with an instructor.

I'm going to buy the needles and yarn for her first project on the understanding that if she enjoys it she'll buy them from me and if not I keep them for myself. I want to keep things simple and easy and inexpensive for both our sakes. I was going to make her first project a knitted dishcloth with a ball of cotton yarn. I'll grab a ball of Peaches and Cream and some size 7 or 8 needles.

I was hoping for some advice on teaching someone how to knit. What worked for you? What didn't? Wood, metal, or plastic needles?

Also, I've made up the pattern for the dishcloth since I couldn't find something that was quite what I wanted. It's a basic basket weave pattern. I've created things without a pattern before, but I've never actually written a pattern, and I was hoping you guys would glance at this and tell me if this seems easy enough for a beginner to read and work on on her own.

Rows 1-3: k48
Rows 4-10: k3, (p7, k7) 3 times, k3
Rows 11-17: k10, (p7, k7) 2 times, p7, k3
Repeat rows 4-17 3 times more
Rows 60-62: k48

Comments

[thistleingrey]

FWIW, it took me only a few simple projects to see the difference between k and p--which goes only to show (re: OP) that experiences vary widely!