So Many Ideas, So Little Time

I have so many things I want to post about and and just haven’t been able to get to them! I want to write about having finally sent off my level 2 projects to the Craft Yarn Council: the new puppet I’ve worked on with the ‘helpful’ guidance from a four-year-old: more work from my students: an emoji puppet I’m almost done with: my balcony that I never use but was excited about when we bought the house 18 years ago and how I might finally start using it: what I might do with all the swatches I’ve accumulated: how I want to rearrange my office so I can open my window and so many other topics.

Instead, I have found one excuse after another to dilly dally.

Reading is never to be considered dilly dallying!

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Student Corner – Crochet Heart Keychain

Today I’m featuring a 4th grade student who mastered single crochet. Last year, she worked on single crochet and had trouble ‘getting it’. At the start of this year, she saw that I had made a small heart and she liked it. I told her that she could make one with her skills, forgetting that she hadn’t quite mastered single crochet.

Unfortunately, the beginning of the school year is pretty busy and I didn’t have as much time to work with her as she needed. Every Friday, we have a fun movie day with no homework. The first part of the day is busy setting everything up, but once the kids have their snack, I have more time to crochet and to teach crochet to those interested.

She was trying to work on her single crochet while I intermittently tried to guide her as I was constantly running off to do something else. At one point, I saw her unravel her work and start to put it away in frustration. I felt bad about not being able to give her more time when she was so close to getting it.

I was almost done with my dutie so I asked her not to put it away and give me another chance to help her overcome her frustration. I was sure she was close to understanding how to do it. She agreed and I was finally able to sit with her. What helped her the most was when I put my hands over hers and had her ‘feel’ how it needed to go. With my undivided attention, she was able to do it on her own. She was so excited to finally ‘get it’.

After she finished her small square, I showed her how to do double crochet to form the bumps. It was uneven but it was perfect anyway. I guided her on the second heart and she did it all herself. I showed her how to put the hearts together to make a keychain. She proudly displays it on her backpack.

 

Tunisian Swatch – CYC Level 2

I was diligently working on my swatch of Tunisian crochet for level two (Craft Yarn Council teacher certification). It wasn’t hard. I know how to do Tunisian crochet. I LOVE Tunisian crochet. Then why did it take me so many tries to get it right?! The square itself was easy enough. I had that down and had my perfect five inch square. The trouble was the second part of the the instructions. I needed to cross-stitch my initial on the square. Again, I know how to cross-stitch on Tunisian crochet.

The problem was trying to do it the way they had it in the manual. Personally, I like going from the back to the front of the fabric but the instructions had you doing it under the loops or something. I’d seen this before and always just did it my way. So I needed to practice. Luckily, I had a reject square that didn’t come out the right size the first time around.

First, I had to decide on the shape and size my initial would be and then I had to practice it their way. I’m not sure why, but I ended up with a huge ‘Y’. It didn’t say the letter had to be big but I went BIG. I practiced the cross-stitching and placement on that reject square. I undid the cross stitch a few times but I was finally satisfied and was ready to do the cross stitching on my good square. The size was good and the stitches looked good and I had the cross-stitch down and then I noticed it was off-center!