A bit of a Rant

[LadyyOftheOak]

hahahah agotta love dpn's!!! Isisfae I would never try to get a newb to knit a sweater, even a tiny one on DPN's.. omigosh.. I"d wind up crucified to the wall or something, I come dangerously close to that myself with DPN!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

 

So far, and I've only been teaching a couple of months now, but so far I have 1 set of students that are coming for return lessons and truly have a desire to learn this. The mother of the set is doing awesome and is really thrilled and understands its practice practice practice!!! That is so so important. I'm really encouraged

 

FancyFingers I don't think it's wrong to remind them how to hold the thread *if* it's causing problems, and it can if what they are doing is causing problems. Ie.. the last crochet student i had kept wrapping her thread around her pinkie and it was causing her tension problems, I had to remind her gently a couple of times not to fight with the yarn but just let it flow. It worked out in the end and she's making a beautiful scarf out of Patons SWS

 

The mantra I tell my students whether knitting or crocheting, and it always gets a giggle is "the yarn wants to be something beautiful.. relax and let it flow and it will work... fight with it and you'll have a cat toy "

[craftybutterfly]

Such good stories!!! LOL ----> Hookers do it faster

 

The lady that taught me gave me a 15 minute lesson, and appearantly I'm a fast learner, 'cause I took off after that and I'm self-taught everything else, but anyway, she had me hold the hook like a knife, bacause that's how she did it, and had me wrap the yarn around my fingers like she did. That was nearly 30 years ago, and I'm still doing it the same way. I've tried holding the hook like a pencil, and its like trying to write with my left hand. Very foreign. I'm glad nobody ever told me it was "wrong", I'd probably poke them with my hook.

 

As a side note, you can also check out video's on knitting at your local public library (if they have video's that is). I did that and taught myself to cast on, and do the knit stitch. Even made a scarf. But never got any further than that. My hands just don't know what to do with two needles in stead of one hook.

[CDBear]

I'm supposed to teach classes at both Hancock's and a yarn shop downtown. I'm so glad I found this thread!!

Most of the patrons of the LYS are knitters, but the shop owner has said that she's had some folks asking about crochet. She can crochet, but is not comfortable trying to teach. She's going to advertise, to see how much response she gets to classes, and then she's going to let me know...

I met the manager of the Hancock Fabrics store here in town and she commented on the yarn I was purchasing. We had a great conversation, and she asked if I would be interested in teaching.

WOO HOO!! I can't wait to get started!!!

[CraftyShannon]

I've attended many knit/crochet/quilt classes over the years. For me, it usually wasn't the teacher who made a class difficult - it was a student(s). There's always at least one student who has to pretend to be a second teacher and offer unsolicited criticism. Usually this person has no idea what she's talking about and just wastes class time. Of course, a really good teacher will put the NosyRosy in her place

 

I had the same problem at a class for machine embroidery once. It was a beginner's class for people who had never done any embroidery before, but there was these two women (sharing the same machine) who had practiced at home. Literally, the first thing they asked was something they clearly knew was in lesson 2, and the teacher told them to wait until the next lesson.

 

After that, every 5 minutes, they were trying to brag about what they already knew...forget that half of what they self taught themselves was wrong, so they constantly needed special attention. All through the class, they were determined to get Lesson 2 thrown in the class as well, which was not fair to the rest of us. Because of their nonsense, this 2 hour class dragged on for an extra hour and a half with the rest of us learning nothing. Such a shame really, because instead of the teacher taking control and remembering all her students, she eventually lost control and catered only to these two know-it-alls.

 

At the end of the class, we each embroidered our own monogram. I'll sound mean, but it was a good feeling that the know-it-alls messed up their design while the ones of us who were there to learn all did ours correctly.

 

The Michael's near me has had a sign up for months asking for a crochet instructor. They have someone to teach knitting, but apparently they've had customers asking for someone to teach crochet. I've halfway considering applying, but I know I'm not assertive enough to deal with that type of student.

[LadyyOftheOak]

I haven't had any students like that thankfully A couple of people that had done it long ago and needed a refresher, a couple that were just raw beginners but everyone has been great

 

I'm about to contact a knitting shop in the town next to us and see if they offer any kind of classes.. or if they want to And I'm definitely about to go through the certified instructor thing through CYCA as well. I really enjoy teaching

[mason204]

I started a crochet ministry at my church in the fall and of the 15 or so people who joined, there were at least 5 or 6 who were told previously that they were "doing it wrong".

 

Turned out, one was a good friend of mine who I knew was an avid knitter but didn't know she could crochet as well as she did. The thing was she also held her hook like a pencil. She said that she abandoned crocheting years ago because she kept hearing her teacher's voice telling her she was doing it wrong. I told her she could hold her hook whatever way she felt comfortable and she's now an avid crocheter. She appreciated hearing it from me and I believe it's now "set her free".

 

She's made about 10 - 12 inch granny squares for the comfortghans we've put together. She recently made Short & sweet from the Happy Hooker book for her daughter.