designing a knitting class
Sep. 28th, 2010 08:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
to_love_a_rose posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
knittingSo 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
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
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-01 12:13 pm (UTC)Also, I agree that you should cast on for her. You could show her what you're doing as you do so, if you like, but tell her that you wouldn't expect her to learn that skill first off, and once she's learnt the knit stitch, a basic knit or cable cast on will be easier to learn.
It will depend on how fast a learner she is whether or not you actually make 'a project' in a first session! Some people just can't get the right co-ordination first thing and need more practice. But if she catches on reasonably fast, then a garter stitch square is good, and you can then demonstrate how it can be used plain as a mat or coaster (or, if done again in cotton, as a washcloth!), or how to seam it as a wrist-warmer, or just keep knitting to turn it into a scarf.
Once she's comfortable with knit stitch, you can introduce purl, pointing out that it's an 'opposite' to knit. You might want to have a couple of small sample swatches on needles, one all knit and one all purl, to demonstrate this. When she's mastered knit and purl, you can introduce K2tog and so on, and let her loose on the knitting world...