Laura Learns Something New: Knitting

Something New Entry #1-9/13/13 What is the something new I am working on? The something new I will be working on for this blog and assignment will be to re- learn how to knit as I have mostly forgotten. (I was taught years ago by a friend, but lost most of the skills.  This is not unlike a lot of our students over break times during each school year.  "You don't use it, you loose it!" Very true! Why did I select this something new? I selected this something new because I had once been taught and would like to re-learn my skills.  Knitting is something that my maternal grandmother did a lot of.  She unfortunately is quite old now and has developed Alzheimer's.  I would like to learn this as a tribute to her. What are the first steps I 've taken to learning this something new? The first steps I have taken to leering this something new is enlisting the help of my twin friends Emily and Liz whom know how to knit.  I have also watched a great YouTube video. However, I really need to buy some actual yarn and needles to do it with the video.  The nice thing about the video is that it goes very slow and gives you a close up of each step. I also have the ability to pause and rewind the video if need be.  I plan on buying some yarn and needles this weekend and work on making one line of knitting.  Photos to follow!

Yarn and Needles First Line of Stitches First attempt at Knitting

Something New Entry #2-9/18/13 On Sunday I bought some inexpensive metal knitting needles and some fun yarn. It was a very hard choice in which color and texture of yarn to choose from. There were too many choices! I couldn't decide! Then last night I took out my yarn and needles and was ready to start. However, there was one thing I had to do first. I needed to put the yarn in a ball like my grandma used to do. I have fond memories of helping my grandma make the yarn balls. There were much neater and easier to carry around according to her. I can still remember her multi-colored carpet bag she kept all her knitting supplies in. I can also remember the many old tins of Pringles jars that she kept all her knitting needles in. I could not start this project dedicated in her memory without making my yarn into a ball. After making my yarn ball I watched one of the first knitting videos on YouTube that I found to be most helpful because it was slow and the camera was close up in the action of the needle's movement. My first line of stitches looked horrible but I was getting the rhythm of the movements. Being a perfectionist, I tore out the stitches and began again. They were not tight enough causing my knitting to look very messy. My next step will be to perfect my stitches. I cannot decide what I am going to make, but it will probably end up being a scarf for some lucky person I know. More to come!

Something New Entry #3- 9/24/13 My "scarf" is really coming along. It actually looks like something now! I was having some difficulties so I took my creation to my friend Emily and she showed me a better way to knit so that my stitches would be tighter and less loose. That sure helped! This tends to be the way I finally master or understand some things, by being showed multiple ways how. Students are the same way. While teaching I have found that the way I explain something may help one child understand what I am asking or doing, but another student may need it explained another way before they "get it". Everyone at work looks at me like I'm crazy. I am now knitting before school and at lunch time. They are all very curious as to how I can be knitting for a grad school class. I also found out that one of my co-workers, a 5th grade teacher, is taking the same class only a different section. Her something new is cooking. We have been checking in with each other as to how our respective "something new" is coming along. I have also found that the better I get at the knitting the more I want to do it and show people my new skill. This is something that I often see with young children whenever they learn how to do anything proficiently.

Looking much better!

Something New Entry #4- 10/6/13 This past week I had the opportunity to work on my knitting on a trip to Chicago I took.  I decided to take the Megabus so that I didn't have to worry about driving and parking.  I had every intention of getting my homework done for my other class, but of course forgot to bring the article I was supposed to write a critique on. I did, however, remember to bring my knitting! I sure got a lot done on the bus.  When I pulled it out of my bag I got some strange looks from my fellow passengers.  I assumed they thought it was unusual to see a young person choosing to knit instead of playing on my phone or computer. I did have a hard time seeing the knitting as the sun went down.  I ended up having to pull a few lines of stitches out and re-thread them to continue. As indicated by my latest photo uploaded, I got a lot done!

Knitting on the bus-look how much I got done!