The knitting class that I taught was amazing.  There were certain aspects that I did not realize were as difficult as they are!  Everyone was able to create a slip knot quickly but trying to get the stitches cast on was very difficult for 2 of my students.  My third student was simply being reminded of how to knit, she had done so years ago and just needed reminders.

For my new knitters we put the slipknot on the needle and then began trying to stitch the cast on, by not telling my students how important it was to keep their needles crossed as much as possible in addition to keeping the tail held firmly against the needle I set them up for failure accidentally.  Their stitches kept spinning around on the stationary needle while they were trying to get the third stitch cast on, this meant that the second stitch they made spun right off of the needles.

Once we had the rhythm down (for the 11 year old I had to do the cast on for her) my students took off!  They were stitching their hearts out, the older woman managed to create a sampler swatch and cast on a second piece, my re-learner finished her project and cast off!  My 11 year old managed to do about 5 rows and she is hoping to keep this going until next week when we will work on her cast off!

By reminding my students that this is not something that gets picked up in five minutes, encouraging them to take the time to learn the process, and exampling what to do (and taking the time to figure out what they are doing to get the results they managed), all three of the students managed to pick up on the skills.  I am very happy and find the entire process very rewarding.  I look forward to Thursday when I will see my students again and hopefully we can progress on our way to crafting success!

Happy Crafting!