Neil was like, "Hey Meg, can you teach me how to dougie knit?" And I said, "Yeah, know why? Cuz all the stitchers love me!"
Well, maybe that is not how things really got going, but there may have been dancing at some point. Regardless of the origins, this weekend I had a fantastic Neil-Meg Saturday Extravaganza. Neil is a wonderful friend of mine and we go waaaayyy back. Not only is he an amazing friend, but he also volunteers his time to help me at Stories in the Garden, a monthly gardening/story reading event at my local community garden. So obviously I was more than thrilled to spend time teaching Neil how to knit.
For those of you who have been following the blog for a long time, you will recall that I have only tried to teach someone how to knit once, and that was a few years ago. However, I was trying to teach 20ish 3rd graders so I anticipated that a one-on-one session with Neil would be slightly easier. Neil really wants to knit hats and toys and lots of cool stuff but I told him a scarf would be the best project to start with. He is a super creative person, spending his days working at Family Guy and he even has his own art blog. I have no doubt that he will be knitting up really cool stuff soon.
After a beautiful morning in the garden, we needed some nourishment so our pre-lesson meal was at this amazing restaurant in my neighborhood. Forage has scrumptious food from local farmers. If you live in the area and haven't been there, you are missing out!
Bellies full, we were ready to walk home and get to knittin'. Neil went through my bundles of yarn and picked out his colors. He decided to go with yellow and grey. I decided size 8 needles would be good...not too big, not too small, or, as Goldilocks puts it, just right!
First things first, casting on. Do you remember how awkward casting on was when you first started to knit? I do! So we took it one step at a time, first with a slip knot and then the method recommended by Stitch N' Bitch that I learned. After row one of casting on, it was time to learn the knit stitch. Neil is a fantastic student and caught on pretty quickly. We did get a little help with the knitting poem, "In through the front door, run around back, hop through the window, off jumps jack." This was just the ticket to help the first row of knit stitches make their way onto Neil's knitting needles!
Since Neil was such a fast learner, I showed him how to purl and add some ribbing to his scarf. Before I knew it, our time was up, so we had a quick lesson on binding off. Neil left with a yellow strip of knitting that could be the grown-up version of a friendship bracelet. Tons of fun, great conversations, and a new skill learned! I can't wait to get together again and have our own knitting party!
Thanks Neil!!!
Well, maybe that is not how things really got going, but there may have been dancing at some point. Regardless of the origins, this weekend I had a fantastic Neil-Meg Saturday Extravaganza. Neil is a wonderful friend of mine and we go waaaayyy back. Not only is he an amazing friend, but he also volunteers his time to help me at Stories in the Garden, a monthly gardening/story reading event at my local community garden. So obviously I was more than thrilled to spend time teaching Neil how to knit.
 |
| Neil reading The Carrot Seed to the little gardeners |
 |
| Cast On, Bind Off |
Bellies full, we were ready to walk home and get to knittin'. Neil went through my bundles of yarn and picked out his colors. He decided to go with yellow and grey. I decided size 8 needles would be good...not too big, not too small, or, as Goldilocks puts it, just right!
 |
| First row done!!!! |
First things first, casting on. Do you remember how awkward casting on was when you first started to knit? I do! So we took it one step at a time, first with a slip knot and then the method recommended by Stitch N' Bitch that I learned. After row one of casting on, it was time to learn the knit stitch. Neil is a fantastic student and caught on pretty quickly. We did get a little help with the knitting poem, "In through the front door, run around back, hop through the window, off jumps jack." This was just the ticket to help the first row of knit stitches make their way onto Neil's knitting needles!
 |
| Cheers Neil! Welcome to the world of knitters! |
Since Neil was such a fast learner, I showed him how to purl and add some ribbing to his scarf. Before I knew it, our time was up, so we had a quick lesson on binding off. Neil left with a yellow strip of knitting that could be the grown-up version of a friendship bracelet. Tons of fun, great conversations, and a new skill learned! I can't wait to get together again and have our own knitting party!
Thanks Neil!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment