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

[auntruth]

A couple more hints:

Another big vote for BAMBOO needles -- but do two things first if you get her a new pair. Use an emery board to put a slightly sharper point on the needles (most bamboo ones are really blunt, frustrating to use at first). Then shine up the length of the needle with a nail buffer to make it a little bit more slick. Will still grip stitches better than metal, but will slide more smoothly.

Keep a close eye on how she forms the stitch that begins a new row. That's been the hardest thing for several of my beginners -- when they turn the work, they leave the yarn in an odd location that makes the last stitch look like two stitches, and results in an extra stitch on the next row. After she's done a few rows, stop and look just as *you're* starting a first stitch of row, look where you have the yarn, then watch how she does it. Coach how to position things for that first stitch.

Do what you can to encourage her to "do it looser." Almost everybody has a white-knuckle death grip on the work at first, and some never get over it. Once she sees how to form the stitches for a few rows, encourage her to get a feel for how the thick-enough yarn sort of hugs the needle once you've looped it, and that you really don't *have* to keep it taut to keep it in position. Makes the process a lot less tense. Exhale, suck on hard candy, listen to mellow music.

Also, another big vote for starting by making a couple of small squares -- Pincushion! Sachet! Catnip toy! Barbie afghan! Felted coaster! Whatever! Aside from boredom, or discouragement, the really pernicious thing about long narrow scarves it that most people improve quickly, and the start of the scarf won't really match the other end of it. Also, by the time you do a couple of squares, your taste in yarn may have already changed. (The same phenom means new quilters are usually happier if they make a small pillow before they cut pieces for a bed-sized quilt [g])