# I teach my first class today



## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Today at 2pm I will be teaching my first ever formal knitting class. This is a knitting socks in 4 dpn's class. Prerequisites for the class are that you need to know how to; cast-on, knit and purl. The class was full (5 people) but one person had to back out due to family illness. So I have 4 students. I've made up a sibilus for the class too :clap: I have what I would like each of them to accomplish during each class, there are 3-2hr classes. I also gave them my email address.

I thought I would start the class by having everyone do a quick intro; name, place, how long knitting, what they really want to learn.


So I would really appreciate it if you all had any pointers for me. Things that teachers have done that you really liked and things that they did they really annoyed you. Pointers please


----------



## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

I would start with a very simple sock with an easy to turn heel. I'd also start with a top-down sock instead of starting with the toe. This will give them practice at working with the double points doing knits and purls. Use the ribbing for a good portion, then perhaps some straight knitting in the round before hitting the heel. They'll have practice at this from the heel to the toe as well. The easiest toe for me was knitting two together on the 'sides' and knitting between them. GOOD LUCK!!! And have fun. You have a great class size here as it will give you plenty of time to work with each of them. You'll probably have at least one person that's a good knitter that will need very little help. And you'll have another that has no clue!  - Catherine


----------



## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Yep all of the above are being done. This is the pattern I'm using http://www.knittingpureandsimple.com/socks.html The top three they can choose which they want. It's a very easy straightforward pattern. The pattern calls for the toe to be drawn together but I'm giving them the option of that or of learning grafting aka kitchner stitch.

I purposely chose that number 4-5 because I wanted to be able to do a lot of one on one with them.

Thanks Catherine for your input. I'll report back after the class.


----------



## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

I am sure you will do great Marchwind. The questions they will have are all the same ones you have answered for a lot of us here.

Have a fun time!


----------



## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Are you doing full sized socks?

the class I took was one 4 hour class, and was on 5 needles and was a mini-sock. It had all the ribbing on the cuff down, then the heel flap, and then pick up the side stitches - around and down to binding the toe down and kitchener stitch the toes. 

It had all the elements - got us through it in one day, and she had time to be with each of us. There were 4 students total.

I can see if you're doing full sized socks having the extra days.

Angie


----------



## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Angie here is what I have on my silibus;

Day 1- choose yarn and needles, cast-on and join, ribbing and leg

Day 2 - Heel flap, turn heel, pick-up instep stitches, decrease for foot, knit foot

Day 3 - Finish foot, decrease for toe, graft toe shut. Begin sock #2

I figure they have a week between classes to work in their own time if they choose.


----------



## Mrs. Homesteader (May 10, 2002)

I think that is a good schedule. Have fun. I know you will do a great job. You are so helpful on here with not even being there in person to show stuff.


----------



## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

Great choices, the light weight and mid weight sock patterns were the patterns I started using when I learned to knit and I still use them as reference.


----------



## ejagno (Jan 2, 2008)

Oh how I would love to have someone to teach me to knit socks. That is my goal. These gals are lucky to have you one on one. I have no advice but I do wish you the best of luck and some really great new friends.:bouncy:


----------



## dragonchick (Oct 10, 2007)

ejagno,
I think everyone here would help you to learn to make socks if you wanted to learn. GAM and I taught ourselves to knit a little over a year ago and our first projects were socks. I am not sure what site GAM used but I used Silvers Sock Class and couldn't believe how easy it was. I have a pair OTN for my son right now since his feet got cold playing in the snow yesterday ( yeah hes still a little kid at 19). 

As scary as it sounds, knitting with an octopus (4 DPN's) is not hard and you only use 2 needles at any given time. Silver does an excellent job of teaching by pictures.
http://www.cometosilver.com/socks/index.htm

Any of the parts you don't understand you can find a video for on youtube or at Knittinghelp.com
http://www.knittinghelp.com/forum/index.php
Amy has a lot of really close up video instruction or simply worded written instructions.


----------



## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Well the class was great! We ended up with 5 people in the end. Only one didn't really know what she was doing and that's fine. When it ended 2 hours later everyone was like, Oh wow is it that time already? :bouncy: They had all finished the ribbing and had started on the leg except one person. She was the only real beginner. It worked out fine because I was able to give her more attention and everyone cheered when she finished her first round and then again when she had something that resembled ribbing :goodjob: She is determined.

Thanks everyone for your encouragement and ideas.


----------



## stef (Sep 14, 2002)

Well I sure don't have any pointers to add, but I think it's wonderful that you're doing this. 

(o:

stef


----------



## dragonchick (Oct 10, 2007)

Congratulations on being such a great teacher to what sounds like a great bunch of knitting folks.


----------



## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Oh Marchwind, that sounds like a lot of fun to me. Are you knitting a pair too, with them, or just helping them on theirs?

Dragonchick, I will always feel a kinship with you. We have a special lefthanded knitters bond. 

ejagno, you can learn to knit socks. It is not THAT hard. Those links Dragonchick posted will get you started, and everyone in this forum will help you if you get stuck. You can DO it!


----------



## ajaxlucy (Jul 18, 2004)

I'm glad it went well and everyone accomplished something -not that I had any doubts!


----------



## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

I know what you meen WIHH. I also knit diffrent.European, no wraping the yarn. 2 colors in the left hand. I've over heard people commenting on me knitting, One lady said " I knit, but I don't know what SHE's doing". I asked at my local knitting store, she just looked at me as if I was speeking another language.


----------



## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Yes, I hear comments like that too 7thswan. I am lefthanded and knit Continental. You would think I was doing macrame or something, to hear one woman I know. She informed me that she has been knitting "since she was old enough to hold the needles", and she has NEVER seen anyone do it the way I do. I can see her just writhing and wanting to rip the needles from my hands and SHOW me how to do it RIGHT, LOL! She has made a lot of acryllic slippers for charity though. :shrug:


----------



## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

Boy did I get a good laugh here!! I, too, knit 'differently'. I hold the 'working' needle in my right hand but I hold the yarn in my left hand. This way I don't have to let go of the needle to wrap the yarn over the top of it. I think I knit pretty fast this way.  -Catherine


----------



## ejagno (Jan 2, 2008)

I am so thrilled that your first class was a success. You ladies are simply amazing here. Dragonchick, thank you so very much for the links. I'm really excited now.

As for new knitters being shy about joining a public group.........you couldn't have said it better. I actually ran into a lady at our Michaels, in the yarn section of course, and she asked me what I was working on. I told her that I'd joined an online KAL to learn/teach myself to knit cables and was looking for a nice cashmere to do this scarf in. She helped me look but we couldn't find the cashmere.

However, she told me that she belongs to a local knitting group that meets at Books-A-Million on Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons and invited me to join them or go meet with them if I run into any problems at all. I had to admit to her that a week or so earlier I'd gone into Books-A-Million to get a book and saw them all sitting in the coffee shop. I was so jealous. I wanted to be at that table with all those ladies just knitting and laughing so badly but being a new knitter I felt intimidated so I hid around the corner and watched them. I finally grabbed my book and left with such sadness because I felt like I wasn't good enough to be a part of the group that sure seemed to really enjoy not only the knitting but the commaradarie as well.

I came home and worked on my scarf, twisted a few cables, did alot of ripping out and finally feel comfortable with the cables now that another member(WIHH I believe) introduced me to the U-shaped cable needle.

Now my biggest fear is that I realized that I have to focus without interruption to count stitches so how in the world do these ladies chat, laugh and carry on without losing their place? Maybe I just need a lot more experience under my belt before joining a group...................or am I just being a chicken?


----------



## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

ejagno, you just need practice.  It gets easier, honestly. Pretty soon it becomes automatic. You get to where you can 'read' your stitches at a glance and then you will be able to relax more.

How wonderful that you have found some ladies to knit with. I dont have that here. I asked at the community center if there was anyone doing knitting classes. The ladies told me *I* should start some!  I am not ready for that yet. 

So, this forum is my knitting club.


----------



## Pakalana (Mar 9, 2008)

The way I see it, if you end up with a knitted something or other, doesn't really matter how you got there. 
Knitting Daily had an article about this not long ago, with pictures of how different ladies worked their needles and yarn. Each had their own way, all turned out some beautiful work. 

Ejagno, GAM is right, just takes practice. I didn't think I'd ever be able to read my stitches, got lost if I didn't keep track with help, plenty of projects frogged or started over because the kids ran off with my paper and I couldn't figure out where I was. It's a rare day that I ask for quiet, but it's kind of funny to watch the whole house come to a screeching halt, hold their breath and count along with me. LOL
"Shhhh, Mom's counting." 

WIHH, you should read some histories of knitting. Needles weren't always sized, sometimes it was just heavy gauge wire that had tips sharpened. (I have some wire coat hangers set aside for this) It's pretty fascinating, at least to me, to see how it's evolved. My great-grandma and mom hold/held their crochet hooks at an odd angle, so do I, probably because they taught me. It's not the "norm" but it works, doesn't effect the outcome. I don't always use a cable needle, found I could work faster without one, others have used them faithfully for years...we all still make cables.  

I love seeing the variety of methods we all use here...but then I believe that variety is the spice of life.


----------



## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

Marchie, that is FANTASTIC! congratulations  Next class..what..gloves? fingerless gloves? cablestitch/patterned something? oooOOOOO......the possibilities.


----------



## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

You all are great! One thing I was absolutely fascinated with was how this one woman was casting on. I let them all cast on the way they felt most comfortable with. This one woman was doing a odd version of the longtail cast on. She said her grand mother taught her. Then I looked and there was another woman casting on the same way, this woman could have been her mother she was old enough. She also said her grand mother had taught her. I was gobbed stopped. They put a loop around the needle with their thumb and then took the needle and knit that loop using a combination of their thumb and needle. Fascinating!!! Sort of a cross, hybrid of the long tail and the knitted cast on. Does this sound familiar to any of you?

Well I'm going to teach more beginning sock classes next month, and I'll teach a spinning class. I'm going to begin another thread for the spinning class because I have ideas andwould love input about costs and such.


----------



## mamajohnson (Nov 27, 2002)

gone-a-milkin said:


> ejagno, you just need practice.  It gets easier, honestly. Pretty soon it becomes automatic. You get to where you can 'read' your stitches at a glance and then you will be able to relax more.


I can do that now! wooo hooo!!! I just realized it the other day! :dance::dance:
I was 'counting' my rows between cables, ya know, so I could be sure and cable on row 8. Well..... I got distracted and was watching football (yeah, it has messed up lots of knitted socks too) and forgot to count. :teehee:
So, I just looked at it and realized, I KNEW where I was, I could SEE what the stitches were! it was sorta like realizing you can read!! hehe! 
(from being a dyslexic, this was something I remembered realizing when I was a kid) 

ok, I just had to share that... It felt like like well like I GREW! :bouncy:


----------



## mamajohnson (Nov 27, 2002)

Marchwind said:


> Well I'm going to teach more beginning sock classes next month, and I'll teach a spinning class. I'm going to begin another thread for the spinning class because I have ideas and would love input about costs and such.


Ahhhh I wish I could join the spinning class! Are you doing all this at the new yarn store?
I bet your having a blast. 

I have decided that when I grow up I want to own a yarn store.


----------



## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

MamaJ I'm dyslexic too so I know exactly what you are talking about. Thankfully reading stitches is much easier than reading words or numbers


----------



## Mrs. Homesteader (May 10, 2002)

mamajohnson said:


> I can do that now!
> So, I just looked at it and realized, I KNEW where I was, I could SEE what the stitches were! it was sorta like realizing you can read!! hehe!
> (from being a dyslexic, this was something I remembered realizing when I was a kid)
> 
> ok, I just had to share that... It felt like like well like I GREW! :bouncy:


I have had that same experience since making the socks. 

Marchwind, sounds like so much fun and WIHH had some great ideas. Anybody want to come to my house and have a knit-in????


----------



## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Marchwind said:


> You all are great! One thing I was absolutely fascinated with was how this one woman was casting on. I let them all cast on the way they felt most comfortable with. This one woman was doing a odd version of the longtail cast on. She said her grand mother taught her. Then I looked and there was another woman casting on the same way, this woman could have been her mother she was old enough. She also said her grand mother had taught her. I was gobbed stopped. They put a loop around the needle with their thumb and then took the needle and knit that loop using a combination of their thumb and needle. Fascinating!!! Sort of a cross, hybrid of the long tail and the knitted cast on. Does this sound familiar to any of you?
> 
> Well I'm going to teach more beginning sock classes next month, and I'll teach a spinning class. I'm going to begin another thread for the spinning class because I have ideas andwould love input about costs and such.


I do my cast on, just as you are saying. Needle in my right hand and the both ends of the yarn in the left,using my thumb to make a loop then take the tip of the needle thru the loop and grab the other tail yard, let the loop off the thumb and pull tight against the needle.


----------

