Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

I'm going to  have to skip one of the projects in this series and come back to it.  The tapestry or 'sewn' picture. My dose of the shingles followed by wisdom tooth removal disaster has put me behind with my course homework.  Having spoken to people who took this course last year, the tapestry is a challenge to finish even without setbacks!  Tapestry is a Class 4 project, so on to Class 5 - crochet!

In Australia crochet is introduded quite a bit later than in Europe (I'm not sure about the US?) And the main reason is because of the style of knitting that is taught.  In Europe, the continental style of knitting is introduced at Class 1.  It is actually very similar to crochet in regards to tension and how the wool is held, so by Class 2, these kids are ready for crochet.  Over here in Australia however, we learn the traditional technique of knitting and delay crochet until Class 5

In our class we were encouraged as the Class 5 kids are, to experiment with a flat piece of crochet, back and forth turning the work at each end.  Next we worked on a circle.  Instead of counting stitches in each round we were asked to feel whether the work needed more increases in stitches - ie. it was starting to curl up or needed fewer increases -  ie. it was starting to go curly. I have to admit that I counted my stitches and only increased as per a traditional circle pattern.  I can imagine this 'counting' being quite challenging for a 10/11 year old, so I completely agree with the method shown to us for teaching children. 

Once our circles were big enough we finished increasing and crochet until our piece was big enough to be a child's backpack.  This is exactly what the kids at our school make for their crochet project. It is so lovely to see them being used as their school bags.
 

There are a million crochet tutorials on the internet so I'm not going to go into the nitty gritty here.
And there is no real pattern for this backpack.  The flap is a made by working back and forth once the bag is deep enough and the strap, which is sewn on, is a simple rectangle.  My one went to the smallest of our family, Sadhbh, who will be starting kinder next year.  As you can imagine, I have orders for three more . . . !

See what other folk have been crafting at Nicole's place today.  

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

As the craft course progresses, the projects become bigger and more involved.  Class 4 fair isle knitting followed on from the cross stitch.   I guess this this is the culmination of the knitting projects as crochet is introduced in Class 5.  Crochet is introduced in class two in European schools as it is very similar to the continental style knitting taught there).



With 16 ply wool on 6mm needles ,we had some simple rules to follow. Only two colours per row and no more than 5 stitches in any one pattern repeat(to prevent long threads at the back) Other than that it was all about experimenting.  From the experimentation you begin to see patterns popping out and eventually, through the 'doing' you begin too find a rhythm to the patterns. I think the patterns at the back are quite beautiful too.  

 Usually I would work out a pattern on paper before I began anything like this, so it was refreshing to be allowed to simply experiment and see what happened.  I imagine it must be magical for the children to see for themselves. Following a brief steam with the iron,  I sewed mine into a tea cosy, but commonly vests, bags or hot water bottle covers can be made from the finished piece.  I also made a smaller sampler on 4mm needles with 8 ply (and bent the rules slightly using 3 colours on one row!).  I sewed this up into a wee doll.

 

See what other folk have been crafting at Nicole's place today.  

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

Class four cross stitch. I've dabbled in a wee bit of cross stitch here and there. Those little packs where you get a 10cm square of cross stitch fabric a little bundle of embroidery floss and a cross stitch chart to follow. If I'm honest I found it a bit tedious and boring, but I was pleased with the results which I think ended up as Christmas decorations or gifts.  

It was a daunting to start this cross stitch project with a blank piece of fabric that didn't even have visible squares to count your stitches let alone a nice chart to follow!  We started with a row of crosses along one edge.   Once that was there it seemed a little easier.  We worked on a pattern with symmetry and took it from there.  We talked about all the ways you can make a cross and how each way makes a different pattern on the back of the fabric.  We talked about the nine year old crossing and and how the repeating of the cross over and over supports the child at this stage.  We talked about how important handwork is for children these days - even more so than it was in the past.  And we got to use green wool for the first time all year!

See what other folk have been crafting at Nicole's place today. 

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

My class two/ three temperament gnome finished this week.  Yes, he has a blue face.  Real life face colours were not allowed here. Yes, that was a challenge for me!  By class three the child's most dominant temperament will be noticeable and shows itself most between the ages of 7 and 14.  More reading here if you are interested. This knitted doll should represent in a way the temperament of the child who makes it mainly through the choice of colours.  By the time you reach adulthood your dominant temperament has mellowed,  although I've chosen blues and purples, melancholic I 'aint!  

                                            

You may (or may not) have noticed that in all the craft I've done for my course so far there's been no sight of the colour green. Well, its coming! The 9 year old crossing is a significant transition in every child's life after which the colour green is introduced to craft and drawing.  This is followed strictly in some schools and not so in others.  When Dubhessa was at Kinder she consistently came home with drawings of beach scenes.  I assumed it was because she loved our beach holidays so much.  She told me later on that she had to draw beach scenes because there was no green crayon to draw grass! Shes in class two now and has since learned how to use her yellow and blue crayons to make a beautiful green if she needs to. 

See what other folk have been crafting at Nicole's place today. 

Making Knitting Needles

I made knitting needles with class two today.  I was so impressed with the kids work and how lovely they all are. I'd love to do this with the other class groups at some stage.  I spent yesterday morning sawing dowel into 20cm lengths and gathering gumnuts from under the tree up the street.

List of supplies:
Dowl -  12 lengths of 1.2m x 8mm clear pine from Bunnings cut to length (20ish cm)
Pencil sharpener - with a large opening - metal ones are the best
Sand paper - 2 grits p120 p240 garnet (red)
Gumnuts or beads - to fit the top 8mm
Elastic Bands to keep them needles in pairs
Name tags to label them
PVA glue
Olive oil or light oil and some rags

The kids get 2 pieces of dowel each and sharpen one end of each piece using the pencil sharpener. First using p240, then the p120 the needle is sanded in long motions from the middle down to the tip, rounding the tip so its not too pointy.  They need to be super smooth so that wool doesn't catch on them when knitting. The needles are then lightly oiled and rubbed down with the rag to remove any excess. Glue a gumnut or bead on top using the pva. Pair and label.

Next Friday we are all going to cast on for 20 stitch square. When the class have finished their squares I'm going to sew them into a blanket, which will be kept in the classroom as a comfort
blanket until class six.


 

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

 Continuing on with my craft curriculum series, this is the sunburst cushion. The cat took a fancy to the sunburst cushion as soon as I put it down to take a photo.  It's a bit grey out right now, so I can't blame him.  Sunbeam stitches fill the hessian circle in this class two project, radiating out from the centre.  This filling of the circle goes hand in hand with how the class two children and gradually filling in the circle of their peer group and class.  The first side of my cushion is very tight and full.  Our teacher helped us look at ways that we can read a child's temperament from their sunbeam cushion, I'm not sure what this says about me! 

I tried a looser, lighter feel on the second side.  I think that the second side is more representative of what an 8 year olds cushion might look like.  My (not quite) circular cushions halves are sewn together with an over and over stitch around the edge and stuffed with wool.

I recently published a kids hat pattern on Ravelry.   Its called Pixie Tadhg.  I know its coming into the milder weather up there in the Northern Hemisphere, but you might like to have a look anyway.

See what other folk have been crafting at Nicole's place today.

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

 

These are the first knitting projects that the kids undertake in Class One.  Some kids can already knit by this stage, but for the majority this is their first time with knitting needles.  At some schools the kids will actually make their own needles from some lengths of 8mm dowl sharpened at one end, sanded, oiled and finished with a bead, or gumnut on the end.   Kids of this age will use 16ply wool on their 8mm's in class we used 6mms and 4 ply.

The very first thing they will knit will be a square in one colour.  This square can then become a cat, a sheep, a bird or any little creature you can imagine with a little loose stuffing and sewing.   I guess to an adult we really have to use our imagination here, but to a child of 7, it really does look like a cat or a sheep.  Thats my sheep up there - looks more like a cat to me!  I struggled with the looseness of this little sheep, as my instinct was to sew it all up,  stuff it to the max and make it actually look like a sheep.  But I resisted.

The next knitting project, which will most likely happen a little later in the year is the shepherd or doll.   This is also essentially a knitted square, using more colours this time. A little finishing and stuffing, some knotted on hair and there you have it.   Below is the doll that my daughter knit in Class One last year.  She was so very proud of it and it is much loved.  You can see for comparison the size difference between the 8ply and 16ply wool.  Knitting is continued all the way through to the later grades in a Steiner school - I'm looking forward to the Fair Isle later this year.

 See what other folk have been crafting at Nicole's place today.

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

 

My craft course introduced weaving recently. I have to say, I'd never tried it before and I just loved it.  We started with the Class One project. A flat piece woven on a wooden weaving board using 16ply wool.  This is usually sewn into a purse, but can also be used as a little mat. 

But my favourite was the Class Two circular weaving on the toilet roll tube. This one used 8ply wool and its just so clever and accessible.   If you wanted to try it, the warp, which is the white cotton that goes up and down the tube is wound around little, 1cm, slits that are cut into the top and bottom of the tube. You need an odd number of these warp threads for the circular weaving to work and the warp is held in place with some sticky tape around the top and bottom.  Use a wool needle to feed the weft, which is the 8ply wool under and over each piece of cotton.  Leave a little tail at the start and end of each colour and overlap each new colour slightly.  Push the weaving down as much as you can so that you get a nice dense fabric.

This can also be sewn into a little purse or bag. On but on a bigger scale this could be made into a recorder case by using a larger cardboard tube.  I'm going to have to check if I can get one from the post office as I think the girls and I are hooked!

 

See what other folk have been crafting at Nicole's place today.