Knitting Class

Some friends of mine at our little book club asked me to teach them knitting, and I was honored to do so. I have never taught anyone to knit before, really, but lately I've noticed that I've been knitting long enough myself that I really understand how the stitches work, and what happens when you make them. It's pretty cool. Another ten years, and I might be ready to design a pattern! Ha!

I talked with my friend, the marvelous Mary, at my local knitting shop, and asked for tips. I thought I'd share them with you, in case you want to teach knitting, too!

1. Cast on for your student(s), and have them practice the knit stitch, before teaching them to cast on. Brilliant tip, actually. The knitted cast on is just like knitting, but it's a little tricky when you're first learning. Once they are comfortable with the knit stitch, it's much easier for them to learn the cast on.
2. Start with cheap yarn. Red Heart Super Saver is a good option. You can make several small things with one skein, and it's not a huge investment. You don't want to buy expensive yarn before you know if you will enjoy knitting. I start by teaching my students to knit a dish cloth. I make them with cotton yarn, usually Lily Sugar and Cream, because it's (a) fairly inexpensive and (b)goes on sale often and (c) is readily available at craft stores, and even Wal-Mart. However, Marvelous Mary told me that one can make a dish cloth using Red Heart, and it turns out more like a scrubbie. Red Heart comes in all kinds of garish bright colors, so you should be able to find something for just about everyone.
3. Limit the number of students. Knitting is almost a one-on-one thing. It's hard to teach more than one brand-new student at a time, because you never know exactly what they will have trouble with and how you'll need to tweak the lesson. It's good to be able to sit with someone and watch what they're doing, so you can catch any errors before they become habits. I was fortunate to have one of my daughters who knows how to knit there with me, so she could help some of the other students. Also, two of the girls knew how to knit already (one just needed a little refresher) so that helped a lot.
4. Teach students the rhymes for the knit stitch and the purl stitch:

I took pictures of the steps for the knit stitch rhyme, so I could show you:

Thank you to my lovely assistant, my daughter, for being the model. :-)

One thing I hadn't thought about ahead of time was the possibility of left-handed knitters. I had no fewer than three. You wouldn't think it would be such a big deal for either them to watch facing me, or for me to simply knit left-handed, but that was a real mind-bender for me. Even the poem came out incorrectly as I tried to teach them. I had Jack coming in through the window and out through the front door instead of the other way around. I am going to practice left-handed purling before our next session so I can teach it better.

I encouraged my students to practice every day,  just for 10 or 15 minutes. That's the best way to become comfortable with the stitch (just like anything else). When we get back together this month, they will learn the purl stitch. If we lived closer together, we would meet more often, and we might still try to do that, but our first meeting was at our monthly book club gathering and we didn't make plans for another time outside that. Meeting weekly would be ideal, but I live about 45 minutes from where our book club meets, so we'd definitely have to plan a get-together; it's not as simple as just meeting up locally.

The two students who were already comfortable with knitting started making small dish cloths. They used this pattern, which is a very common one and a great beginner's project. In addition to knitting practice, it teaches yarn overs and decreases. Those two were so funny! They knit like gangbusters so they could get the first half done, so I could show them how to decrease for the second half before they had to go on to their other class.

I haven't quite decided what we're going to do next. Knit Picks has their 52 weeks of free dish cloth patterns (something for both knitters and crocheters), and I think it might be just the ticket for our little group. Dish cloths are small, manageable projects, and they would have the opportunity to learn several different patterns that way. I've had a request to learn to make a headband, too, so that's a possibility. I'll keep you posted on our progress.

Here's my group:

Aren't they great? :-)

REVIEW: Rosie's Doll Clothes Patterns

Did you learn to sew as a child? I did! I had the great fortune to be in a 4-H club, and my leader taught me to sew. My mom taught me a lot, too, and loves to remind me of the countless seams she had me take out to do over. I've wanted to teach my girls to sew, but wasn't sure where to start. I was delighted to have the opportunity to review Rosie's Doll Clothes Patterns! For this review, I received a 12-month online subscription to her sewing program.

Rosie's program consists of over 130 tutorial videos, which you can purchase on DVD or use online with a 12-month subscription. It's recommended for ages 8 and up. As you work through the course, Rosie provides 8 patterns for different items to sew for your 18" doll:

• Sport shorts
• Crop top
• Sarong
• Halter top
• Summer nightie
• Ruffled hat
• Pumpkin costume
• Underpants

The nice thing about these patterns is that you print them at home with your printer. No tissue paper pattern pieces - woo hoo! The pieces are simple to cut out, too, which is great for beginning sewers. The written instructions are nice, but you really need to watch the videos to understand what to do fully. I *love* having the videos. We watched some more than once, making sure we understood the instructions. Rosie has a lovely, cheerful voice with an Australian accent, and we enjoyed listening to her. While we were sewing, if we couldn't remember exactly what to do, we just went back to the video. Actually, I was the one going back to the videos. The girls caught on quickly and were instructing *me.* That's a little embarrassing to admit!

Each week, there are videos to watch that teach you about everything from the basics of fabric (woven vs. knit, nap, one-directional fabric, etc.) all the way through elastic and even puff sleeves! Every doll needs at least one dress with puff sleeves, don't you think? In addition to teaching basic sewing skills, Rosie shares great tips that are specific to doll clothes, as well, such as sewing hems first. have you ever tried to sew the hem on the sleeve of a doll's dress after you sewed the sleeve? It's not fun.

The patterns are a great way to practice the skills you learn from the videos. The first pattern, Sport Shorts, is quite simple, and is a nice, quick project to get your feet wet and build confidence - simple seams, waistband with elastic, and hemming. Then, when you sew the crop top, you build on those skills with top stitching, and a garment that goes together in a really nifty way.

Although I know how to sew, and have made doll clothes before, I learned a lot from Rosie's videos. Also, she taught everything in such a way that it seemed simple and clear to the girls, who picked right up on sewing. She teaches everything in a sequential manner so that you avoid a lot of frustration. For example, I don't think I would have remembered to tell the girls that you should watch the guide lines on the needle plate of the sewing machine so that you sew in a straight line, rather than watching the needle go up and down. I would have assumed they would just do that, when in reality, they had never used a sewing machine before and would not have known. Things like that saved a great deal of frustration and seam ripping. I also learned about some new-to-me sewing tools, such as the loop turner and the bodkin. Rosie taught me, too, that rotary cutters can be used for cutting out all kinds of pattern pieces, and not just straight lines!

My 12 year old jumped right in and had a great time sewing. She is the one who would show me how things worked when I had an issue (usually from trying to figure things out without watching the video or reading the instructions carefully enough), and would say "No, Mom, it goes like this." My 13 year old was less excited about trying something new, and resisted a little, until she saw how easy it was. Once she completed her shorts, she was having a good time, and she loved how the crop top came together! It really is an ingenious pattern, but not difficult at all to sew.

Unfortunately, we had a lot of sewing machine issues, so we didn't get as far as we'd hoped in sewing our doll clothes. However, we each completed a pair of shorts and a crop top, and we're looking forward to working through the rest of the patterns. We're going to sew lots of clothes for my little nieces' American Girl dolls for Christmas, so keep an eye out for pictures!

Rosie's online video course is available through her website for $47.46 (It's $49.94 AUD, since she's in Australia, and the price could fluctuate slightly with the exchange rates). She's also offering a special from now through December 24, 2013: if you purchase her program, she will include an extra pattern of your choice for FREE! That brings the total number of patterns you get up to 9. What a great gift idea for that special girl who wants to learn to sew!

Click to read more reviews from the Schoolhouse Crew!