This post is inspired by the class I’ve been teaching this week at our local library to 11-13 year old kids (boys & girls!). It’s called “Yarn for Youth” and it’s a very basic introduction to knitting and crochet.
On day 1, we met and shared why we were taking the class. One of the boys said, “I want to learn to knit because it’s not just for girls.” Yeah! You go! I told him that knitting is very manly, especially in the sense that he can be self-sufficient when he needs things like scarves, sweaters, gifts for friends and loved ones.
On day 2, we learned the knit & purl stitch (or re-learned – some of the kids had learned before and forgotten, so this is a refresher for them).
Today we’ll learn the basics of crochet: chaining, single and double, and maybe even half double crochet for the “advanced” kids (hee hee!).
Tomorrow’s plan: practice whichever technique you’d like, or pick a pattern and get started on it!
My goal with this introductory class is to get the kids to fall in love with knitting (or crochet) as much as I have. I want them to look forward to the time of day when they put aside everything else, their homework, their squabbles with siblings, their hurt feelings from a fight with a friend and just KNIT IT OUT. I want them to feel the healing that knitting and crochet can bring.
And that’s how I “stumbled” onto this realization that knitting (or needlework in general) is love. First off, I feel love for the fibers and their makers. I feel a kinship with the person who lovingly twisted this fiber into yarn and then sent it off into the world. Even when my yarn comes from some giant corporation, I think about the place the fibers started from: a simple, single cotton plant or one sheep in a herd. Without those plants and animals, my son wouldn’t have the cute sweater his Grandma made him!
That leads to another kind of love that comes from or with needlework – the love we feel when we receive something homemade. We feel the love in every stitch. The piece of work can literally surround us in their love, especially if it is an oft-used item; a blanket, a sweater, a hat, a bag.
And then there’s the love of the knitter/hooker (yes, that’s what a crochet-crafter is lovingly called) for him or herself. I know that when I complete a particularly difficult project well and hold it up for examination, when I hear praise from family and friends for the hours and hours of work that went into it… My own love of my abilities increases. And it’s not a pride thing, it’s an increased awareness of how little I know about my own abilities! It’s an eye-opening experience, because it shows me how far I can grow and develop, as a knitter and as a human being.
Except for Madame DeFarge (the only example I know of an “evil knitter”), knitting is peace and love. Knitting is a pathway to higher consciousness and an awareness that we are all connected by fibers that reach across old hatreds and physical borders, time and space.
I used the KnitPro image-to-chart converter created over at 
