My Personal Journey and Thoughts

Learning Project Update

It has been awhile since I have done an update, and for good reason. I wanted to have something finished to show everyone, and I have finally done it. Before I share with you I should probably explain where I started, my purpose, and then finally the big reveal.

“Wool – oops, no it’s mostly ‘yarn'” by Daffydil is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

As you all presumably know I have been teaching myself to knit. It all started thanks to a book called “Fish out of Water” by Joanne Levy. In the book a boy wants to learn how to knit because he wants to make people socks just like his grandma. However, he takes a lot of slack from his friends, and his grandma for wanting to knit because “boys don’t knit.” I have been reading this book to both my 4/5 and 5/6 ELA classes and they are loving it. Many of them are annoyed by the stereotype that boys can’t knit and we have had several chats about this and other harmful stereotypes in society. I am getting ahead of myself because I decided that this “boy” aka me, was going to learn how to knit before I started reading my classes the book. I wanted to show them a real life example of going against the grain, and not listening to what others say.

So far it has been a really interesting journey of learning, talking with others, sharing, and working really hard to accomplish something that started out to be pretty difficult but ended up becoming something that I a proud of.

My journey started here:

I had to watch the videos several times, to try to actually figure out what she was doing. I found casting on pretty easy but everything after that was painstakingly slow and full of growing pains. Once I was pretty sure I wanted to start I headed to Michaels to purchase knitting needles and yarn, and there was my first mistake. In the video Davina (the instructor) talks about getting the correct sized needles as well as the right type of yarn to start learning with. I didn’t listen at all and bought what I wanted to buy. Of course when I got home, in all my excitement, I wanted to start immediately. AND…I failed right off the bat. The needles I purchased were to thin (5mm) and the yarn was also to small. I couldn’t see what I was supposed to be doing because everything was too tightly wound and close together. Oppps.

The journey back to Michaels

I had to go back and get the right size needles – now I was on a mission, I knew that I needed 9 mm or 10 mm needles and a thicker yarn. This time I got it right and came home with:

So that’s where I started. I have had great conversations with colleagues who have all offered to help. One in particular – Pat – showed me how I can sew in the tails of yarn. In the video below you will see what I mean.

The Big Reveal

The last time I made a post I was only about 8 inches into making my scarf and I can’t wait to show you the finished project. Please sit back and enjoy!

Thanks for watching!

5 Comments

  1. Riley W-C

    Chris! Your video was awesome, so great to see your finished project for your Mom. That’s who deserves all our first projects, right?! I agree, knitting around the students just makes for more conversations and connections. I have had older students (gr. 8) who have been surprisingly very invested in my knitting projects and it is too cute and always seems out-of-left-field for me! But hey, kids love hobbies right, and seeing the adults in their lives have hobbies is a cool thing too. Trust me, now that this first project is completed, everything kind of riffs off of these initial skills and flows better. Knitting in the round is one of my favourite things, cause hats are quick to knit, which sounds like something you will enjoy! Metal knitting needles just take some getting used to, you’ll find you hold them a bit differently in order to not lose any stitches, which may happen but generally if you can slow yourself down you can pick them up before they disappear. Looking forward to seeing the next installment!

  2. James Jones

    Great video, Chris! Such a fantastic accomplishment and it is obvious that you put a great deal of time into this. I love how you have shared this learning project with your students and to hear their own excitement. We had a knitting club in my high school and I remember how popular it became after a few of the blankets students had knit were auctioned off at a school fundraiser event.

  3. Kelly Ziegler

    Okay, I seriously just love how you made this awesome video about your scarf. There is no judgement on the Christmas decorations, my mom is an uber decorator and used to have a business in our house. We used to have Christmas up the first week of October. So I get it. It looks great.

    You did a great job on your scarf! While unpacking all the hobbies I found under the stairs while moving, I found some knitting needles and yarn and sent them to you via interoffice mail. Have you got them yet? 🙂 I instantly thought of you and that you could have probably put them to better use than hanging out under my stairs.

    • Christopher Weber

      HAHA, Thank-you. Jared is an uber decorator as well and loves Christmas. The shop gets pretty busy as Christmas approaches so he always decorates early. I haven’t received anything yet, however we should get our mail today so I’ll see if it’s in there. Thanks so much for thinking of me.

    • Christopher Weber

      They came in today! Thanks so much:)

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