I learned to knit at an early age and then created several sweaters that I wore. Not too fancy, but some variation from the patterns. Different yarns had different thicknesses so the same pattern could turn our horribly wrong with the wrong yarn. As I began, I appreciated the guidance from my mom. She is an artist whether with paint, pencil, or crochet hook. She was always busy on some project … making something.
Materials matter. In knitting it’s often about the yarn and the needles and how tightly one knits their stitches. It all depends.
I remember the pride I felt when I mastered the cable stitch shown in this picture.
It was in a pink vest that I wore to school often. Until someone commented on the fact that there were two shades of pink. Yep, learned that lesson. You need enough yarn when you begin the project because the same dye lot in a different store may have a different shade.
My handcrafts have followed a pattern learned from my mother. Knitting, embroidery, cross stitch and quilting. Hobbies. As long as they remain fun and there is little outside pressure.
Thank you, Mom, for teaching me to find satisfaction in hobbies that result in a feeling of accomplishment in the creation as well as in the pleasure of “gifting” to others!
Variables exist in hobbies and in life.
In teaching, it may be time. It may be specific skills. It may be the requirements in the grade level, building, or district. But the responsive teaching that fits the students, only fits the students in front of the teacher today. Circumstances change by the next day.
When do you take pride in your successes, your achievements, your processes? How do you celebrate your creativity?
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Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for this daily forum during the month of March.
Check out the writers and readers here.
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There is a lovely metaphor here. Knitting, piecing together, learning. They all are a part of teaching.
I love the way you wove your young life story into this piece. The lesson learned and how this hobby has sustained and sustained you through the years.
Circle of life.
Circle of learning.
There was life before screens!
I consider anything handmade to be a work of art. Yes, materials play an important role. Changing them affects the outcome of the work. Your piece points out how important it is to have a mentor to teach us and guide us.
I think writing is Lso a work of art.
Mentors and teachers guide us through so many stages of life !
You make such as great point about the changing need for empowering our students and children with a sense of creating and making their own images. I’ve fostered a “writing spirit” in my 6 year old grand daughter that I just love to watch blossom into a multitude of “books.”
Anita,
So much of life seems to be out of balance: consuming and creating is definitely one piece that we need to juggle.
I loved reading this piece and learning how your mother influenced you and became your March 6th Thank you shoutout!! And your crafted a piece that is about things I know nothing about, yet, you nudge me to consider how the metaphor fits something I do know. Great craft move!
Thanks, Sally. Always so much to consider in every layer of a slice!
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