Category: Learning Project

Well, it is that time to wrap up the end of the semester, which means wrapping up my learning project. Throughout this course, I tasked myself to learn how to crochet as I already know how to knit. I can’t say that it was all sunshine and rainbows throughout, as I hit some road blocks. I was able to finish three different projects, and I did not get to my final baby blanket project, as I think I oversold myself in how easy this would be.

Week 1- I was learning how to create stitches and make slip knots.  

It was quite the experience and I was able to make 10 little stitches, which I was quite amused with myself. I believe I watched that same video several times for the next couple weeks to come since I couldn’t remember how to start a new project.

Week 2- Granny Squares

I started to make my first little granny square as a starting point in this journey. This time I thought I would try and read an article to help me with the granny square which I came to learn that watching videos was what helped me best in learning.

Week 3- Continuing my Granny Square

This time I provided a video of myself crocheting. I was just continuing the granny square to get used to the motion of crocheting.

Week 4- Deciding what my Granny Square was going to be

Well my mom is still mad but at least I saved her counter from any more burns I might try and create. After burning her counter, I decided to make a pot holder to avoid getting into more trouble. I decided to be unique and add a different colour, then later stitch it together.

Week 5- Finishing my first project

Well this was an exciting week for myself! I finished my pot holder for my mom. I was able to stitch it together and provide a video of the action. I then got a little ambitious and wanted to try to create a pumpkin, which I later failed at.

Week 6- Shoot for The Stars

This was a very disappointing week for myself. I was so discouraged that I kept trying to create this pumpkin but it quickly became too complicated for myself. However, it was a good learning curve for myself.

Week 7- Coasters

After my disaster pumpkin try, I decided to go for something easy and gift my mom some coasters for Christmas. I was really good at this as it really was just a granny square again. Squares were definitely my thing!

Week 8- Completing My Second Project

I was so proud of my coasters at first! Like look at me go finishing yet another project. But the more I looked at them I hated them. They were not the same size and I was quite upset. However, I reminded myself I am still learning and not everything needs to be perfect.

Week 9- Just In Time for Cold Weather

This week I wanted to be different and in a previous week one of my classmates suggested I try a toque. So I thought let’s do one for my son. Which he does not wear and hates it. But hey it was the thought that counted.

Week 10- Finishing my third project 

I got to show off my son in his new toque which I had to bribe him with candy for him to take a picture. I was pretty proud and still am. It was the best project I was able to make and I had really no problems creating. This really helped boost my confidence.

Overall, I am proud of myself for trying something new. I really learnt that it is quite possible to learn a new skill at any age. I think this is something I need to continue to remind myself. That no matter how much you struggle you can really learn or do anything you put your mind too. I think this will help me as a future teacher, as I can relate to my students and encourage them to keep striving for what they want to achieve. As long as you work hard anything can happen.

I did not get as much completed as I wanted to. Like a baby blanket and stitching my coasters together to make a purse for my mom. But I do have goals for my future, especially to be able to make a pumpkin!

 

Well, well, well, here we are! I finished my son’s toque! Now let me just say that I didn’t think I could do it. At some points I was like maybe, this is too hard for me. But, here we are, I DID IT! Now by any means it isn’t perfect, because lets be honest my other projects were not perfect either. I know I have lots of work to do, to continue to grow my crocheting skills. But I am incredibly overjoyed with my progress throughout this semester.

Now I was so overjoyed but my son was not. He has a specific Carhartt toque that he loves and never wants to wear anything else. So I bribed him to put it on and take a picture in it with a sucker, that you can see in the picture. I had about five seconds to take the picture before he was upset, so that is the best photo I got. I think maybe I convince him to wear it if I send it with him to daycare. Beckham seems to listen at daycare a little bit more than home.

Now, I had this realization that after the first two learning posts I regretted my decision of learning how to crochet. I was at first like, well I can knit so it can not be much different. Well I was very humbled and I was like maybe I should switch skills. But I kept going and trying my best and I can confidently say that I can somewhat crochet.

I think I would have done better this semester if I did not give myself such a harsh timeline. I wanted to complete a project every week which was not a reachable goal for myself. I realized that if it took me a couple weeks, then I wouldn’t die or get a bad grade. It has always been about the process! Now I have not started my baby blanket, which I do not know if I will have finished by the end of this semester. However I have started to stitch my mom’s coasters together to make a bag. I did not overly like my coasters, so I will remake them for my mom before Christmas but thought maybe I could give her a bag to take with her to work for lunch or something.

 

This week has been a good week for me in my learning project! I started to make my son’s new toque and it is going so great! I will was a little intimidated at first, as I saw it as a daunting task. However, I really haven’t run into any issues in making this. Which is quite shocking if you have followed along with my journey of learning how to crochet.

This is the same colour and toque I am making however I got really bad lighting in this photo. My son really liked this colour as I let him pick it himself. He really likes reds, blues and oranges. I thought it was best to let him pick it, hoping he would be more inclined to wear it. However, he is two, and two year olds do not do anything unless they want too.

I watched this video as my inspiration, expect I did not follow it exactly. I did not use the same amount of chains as she did, since my son has a smaller head than an adult. As of right now I am about halfway done and I am hoping to finish it up early this week and get started on my final project, which is a baby blanket! Unless I change my mind!

 

Well, I have just completed my second project, the Christmas gift of coasters for my mother. I feel like my first project looks a little better than this one. I was not paying too much attention to how different the coasters looked. Some are bigger than others, and I ran out of green yarn to make the last two. They may not all look the same, but they all do the same thing, which was the point I was going for.

 

Before I start my baby blanket, I will try to make my son a toque. I went to Micheals and told him to pick out a colour he would like for a toque. He initially picked a light blue colour, but for some reason, when he touched the yarn, he said no. I do not think he liked the texture of the yarn, and thus, he ended up picking a red chilli pepper colour. This yarn is thinner than the blue yarn, and if he is happy with it, I am happy with it.

My goal for this next project is to start and complete this in two weeks and get started right away on the baby blanket. I have not started the toque yet, but I hope to start tonight and see how much I can get through. I am feeling confident and hope when I am done, my little guy will like it!!

Since Christmas is approaching, I decided to give my mom coasters as a gift. She always complains that she doesn’t have enough for the holidays, and everyone puts their drinks on her table. I could’ve bought her some coasters, but I thought, why not make them?

I would say this week went very well. This coaster took me twenty minutes for one, as that is all I have made. This week I became super busy, so my plan for this coming week is to make a set for my mom. I think with time the more glasses that are put on the coaster the sides will level out. Like I have said in my previous posts videos have been my best friend but with getting more confident I am finding it easier to read patterns and follow them. Using friendly websites with easy steps has really helped me!

Also, a side note, crocheting while watching TV has been really helping me. I find I am not nitpicking the certain stitches I am making. Sometimes I become unfocused and really into the certain show I am watching but otherwise it has been working well for me 🙂

Well… I might have shot for the stars and fell back onto Earth. You are probably wondering what I mean and what this has to do with me learning how to crochet. Let me explain…

I think I overestimated my ability to make a pumpkin. I was so confident about finally finishing a project that I thought I could do anything now. I got a pattern online, watched numerous videos, and spent many hours on this over the past two weeks, and I have nothing. This picture below is probably the best representation I have of my pumpkin-making process.

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So, I was pretty discouraged because I thought my newfound skill would continue to progress, and after this week, I hit a halt. I think I might have overestimated myself, so now I am going to take on a smaller project with less complicated steps. I am going to make a coaster. I have yet to decide about the shape, whether it is going to be a circle or a square. I have been watching multiple videos and reading multiple articles. I just started crocheting randomly this week to remind myself of the steps and gain back confidence while doing this. I had been looking for tips to gain back confidence, and I have found some. However, if you have any tips to gain back confidence, I would appreciate them.

So, it is finally here… A finished product of mine. It only took me like seven weeks, but hey, I did it. My potholder is not perfect, but it does the job of not burning the sides of my counter. I will have to make my mom one, so maybe she will become a little less mad at me.

There is definitely room for improvement, as some of the stitches did not turn out the nicest, and in the picture, you can see how, on the side where I joined the two pieces together, it is quite messy. However, I feel like if I were to make another (for my mom), it would be done nicer, and I might be able to finish this quicker. I think this took me about 14 HOURS! I know it’s pretty long for something so small. But I remind myself every day that I am learning. It took every once of me not to trash it as I am not overly proud of the look but I continued, and now I have my first finished product.

 

I now apologize in advance for how bad this video is. I thought this was the best way to record myself stitching this together. However, as you can see, I was wrong. I also do not know what happened with my video and why it is very small on the screen. If you know why it went like this, please let me know!

Now that I am gaining confidence, I am going to try and create a pumpkin. A little ambitious. However, I will see how it goes! I am going to try and have it done before Halloween or right afterwards!

FINALLY! I hit a breakthrough and decided with my finished pink rectangle, and I made a pot holder… well, half of it. So, I accidentally burnt the side of my mom’s counter (she was unhappy) with a pot when making food. So, I think a pot holder would be sufficient to have beside the stove at my apartment to make sure I do not damage the counters.

Here are some of the steps that I took pictures of this week:

Well, this week, I decided to try looking at pictures and small videos to help remind me of the steps, which I often forget when I start crocheting. It seems as though my mind goes blank, and I forget what I have learned, I think I am relying on YouTube videos too much to remind me of the steps. Maybe I need to practice more or just sit and struggle a little bit before running to something that is comfortable for me. So, instead of a full-blown video, I found this great article that has little snippets of videos and some pictures that helped jog my memory. 

Now, to finish off this product, I have to stitch it together… Now, this will hopefully go smoothly (fingers crossed). Next week I will finally have my first finished product! After finishing this, I want to make a cute pumpkin. Since I have been seeing so many videos on TikTok for Halloween, I just have to try it.

You may be wondering why I used green with a variety of pink colours… Here are my reasons why:

• I only had the green and pink yarn (as I did not want to buy so many yarns and not use them)
• I thought of using the pink again but I got bored of the colour
• Lastly, I was too lazy to go out and buy something that would match the pink.

 

 

 

 

This week I had a challenge, when it comes to new apps and tools, I really struggle. Trying iMovie was definitely a challenge, and I can say I do not know all that is to know about this tool.

To get into this thing… this is what iMovie looks like at the beginning:

You start by creating a movie, which takes you to all these different settings. You can upload photos and video clips, create transitions, add audio amongst many other things.

 

All the tools are up at the top of the page where you can select what you want to add next, which makes it easy for students to upload from their Macbooks. I will admit it took me awhile to be able to figure this out and put the backgrounds and music exactly where I wanted it but overall it isn’t a bad tool once you know what you are doing.

My learning project took a hit this week, as I still have not been able to figure out what to do with the straight line I have. However, I have been practicing and coutinuning to work on the skills I have now.

SAMR Model:

Subsitituion:

• Using this in my classroom for subsitituion purposes, I would create videos for my students to watch on topics, at any point in the year. Instead of letting them watch a youtube video they can watch the iMovie that I have made.

Augmentation:

• For using this for augmentation purposes, I would have my students create a video as a class with my help. We can begin to go through the steps and tools together for students to have a better understanding of the app. We can decide as a class what needs to go in the iMovie for a certain topic and incorparate everyones ideas.

Modification:

• For the purposes of modification, students can create their own videos with peers or by themsleves giving them a chance to use the tool and create their own visual and audio study guide on a topic. They can have it for the whole semester, so when it comes close to a test it can help with their studying on the topic.

Redefiniton:

• For the purposes of redefiniton, students will create their own videos by themselves or with peers and can gain feedback by uploading them into youtube (on teachers account) to gain more knowledge on the topic that we are discussing and share their knowledge around iMovie to the rest of the world.

 

 

 

This week, I learned new tips and tools to continue my crocheting journey. Three major lessons were taught this week and have made me grow as an individual, not just in crocheting…

1. Never get too flustered while making a mistake.
2. Pay attention to the crocheting, which will help reduce the number of mistakes made.
3. Be proud of the skill that you are working on

I decided to try and make a granny square, which turned out more like a thicker line. At first, I was frustrated with all my mistakes and how they did not turn out how I wanted. But compared to last week, when I couldn’t even do a single line of crocheting, I am pretty proud of my progress.

As complex as this may look with all the multiple colours, I can assure everyone that only one ball of yarn has these multiple colours in it. As you can see, it did not come out as a square, but I might see if I can make something with this thicker line of crocheting I have done.

It amuses me to think that I do not learn well by reading steps and looking at instructions. However, I thought I would give it a try anyway. This week, I read an article on beginner crocheting to try something new. I think that videos are my best friend so far in this process. Being able to watch someone go through the steps over and over again for me to do at the same time has helped me retain the knowledge.

This week, I aim to finish this thick piece of crocheting and make it into something if I can!