Kool-aid yarn dyeing with the first graders - what could be more fun?! Well, I thought it would be fun at least. They didn't really get into it until they saw how clear the water got after cooking the yarn. That got 'em. And then there was the smell. "Mmmmmm, it smells so good in here," they all kept saying. "But does it taste good?" one girl asked every five minutes. Ha. Ha.

I'd prepared five mini-skeins of some Knit Picks Dye-Your-Own and other white wool leftovers I had and the girls picked out the colors to dye them. We mixed up kool-aid in mason jars and dunked the yarn in, sometimes one whole skein in just one color and sometimes we put half of one skein in one color and half in another. We zapped it in the microwave a couple of times following these directions (no, we didn't put that metal pot in the microwave - it was just to hold the wet yarn before and after) and here's what we got.

The red/yellow one was supposed to be purple and yellow. The "purple" kool-aid simply came out red. I overdyed it at home with some blue in an attempt to make it a little more purpley but ended up with only a kind of cranberry red. Oh well. The others came out quite well though, especially the blue and green. Every time I've done the kool-aid dyeing I have had the best success with orange, blue, and green. The reds often have to be re-dyed to achieve the color you want and the yellow requires a couple of packets of kool-aid to even show up much at all. Still, I'd definitely call our little afternoon of dyeing a success. And this week - our last week! - everyone gets to take home a mini-ball of some of the yarn we dyed as a souvenir.

And yes, they smell great!

While I've been sewing quilt blocks at home, the boys have been working on quilt squares at school. They've just finished a first-grade math/geometry unit called Quilt Squares and Block Towns that had them exploring the many ways that different shapes can be combined.

They started by arranging different shapes to fill various patterns and ended by designing "paper quilts", coloring in shapes within quilt square patterns. When I saw the patterns that they'd designed I suggested that we make real quilt squares out of them. Up first was B, with so-called "pattern E", a simple square in a square design.

B wants me to make eight more of these and sew them together so he can see the blue triangles come together to make a secondary diamond pattern. Clever, no?

S's square was "pattern A", a four-patch with two squares divided into half-square triangles. S's choice of colors made this pattern much more interesting than it would have been in a simpler color scheme.

He was so thrilled that I found blue fabric with yellow stars just like he'd drawn in class!

To fill out the theme, they read some kids' books on quilting, including The Quilt Story and The Quiltmaker's Gift, although I couldn't get them to tell me anything about either of them. Boys!

Still, maybe I should pick up this book?

Or am I remembering that rhyme wrong?

Well, school's out this week, so I'm not doing any spool knitting with my first graders today but it hasn't stopped me peeking around for more info on the subject. It's just so cool and weird, so hip and old-fashioned all at the same time. Don't think it's cool? Don't think it's hip? Just take a look at the latest issue of Knit Simple where there's a whole spread about i-cording and some lovely projects you can make with it, like this sweet bag and these fancy shoe laces.

I-cord is back, baby! There's beautiful beaded spool knitting going on, patterns for cute kids projects and ideas for grown-up embellishments all over the web. There are books on making your own corker and corking projects, and even mass market kits like this one from Klutz.

And if you're into the retro thing and want to knit it old-school, you can take a peek at the 1909 book Spool Knitting.

Or check out the Spoolknitter blog for gorgeous photos and stories about all kinds of cool and kitschy vintage knitting spools.

So spool knitting would appear to be kind of in right now in a retro sort of way. It certainly is a totally legit way of making something. But it's still a little weird, ya know?

With a class of eleven first through third graders, I've had the opportunity to see a few knitting spools in action over the last couple of weeks. And here's what I've learned....

First up, the Lion Brand knitting spool. This is by far the cutest of the knitting spools I found for the kids. It's got the sweetest little face! Unfortunately, it also has the tiniest little opening at the bottom. To start spooling you need to drop the yarn end through the spool and then start wrapping the working end of the yarn around the pegs at the top. It was impossible to drop, push, shove, ease, or curse the yarn down into this puppy. I eventually worked out a method using a yarn needle. Thread the yarn needle, drop that in - yes, it will get stuck - then use a knitting needle to push the yarn needle down a bit so that you can grab the tip at the bottom and finally pull the yarn through. The problem of the narrow opening still persists though, since there's very little room for the knitted cord to move. This one is light-weight yarn only, folks.

Conclusion: It's frustrating to get it started. You definitely need to help the child get this one going. But, I have to say that the girl who used this knitting spool did an awesome job once she got going. She made lots of beautiful knitted cord and didn't ever seem to be troubled by the fact that the dk/light worsted weight yarn was pretty snug in the opening.

The Inox knitting spool is very similar to the Lion Brand spool, but better quality. You pay more for it, but it's entirely made of wood, it's longer, making it a little easier to hold, has nicer pegs that hold the loops better, and it's almost as cute with that adorable little face. The center opening is still a bit narrow though and because it's wood, it's still a bit grabby.

Conclusion: This one's pretty good. And yet it wasn't the favorite of my group.

Next, the crazy looking contraption that is the Clover Wonder Knitter. This one is so different from the others that I didn't want to get it at all, but I needed eleven spools and after searching at 4 different stores, this was all I could find. Despite looking complicated, this one is by far the easiest to use. The girl who started with this one was making cord in seconds and saying, "I'm knitting! I'm knitting!" while the others were still fighting over whether they were called knitting nobbys or knitting nancys. There are several reasons why it's so easy and fast: first, there's a tab that you thread the working yarn through; second, the center section with the pegs spins; and, third the pegs are nice and big with a little lip on the end that keeps the loops in place and a grove down the center that guides the pin. With the yarn threaded through the tab on the side, the child doesn't have to hold the working yarn anymore, they just spin the center and the yarn is in the exact right place ready to work another stitch. And with those nice large pegs and a larger pin, it's super easy to move the loops around. This largeness is also its main drawback though. The spool comes with two center wheels (the part with the pegs) - one for large yarns and one for small yarns. We used the smaller one and still, I wouldn't really recommend it for anything smaller than heavy worsted weight yarn. We were using worsted weight yarn and the cord was very open and holey. The girl using this spool said that her baby brother was always pulling her cords apart because they were so loose.

Conclusion: It's great for getting started! If you've got a child who you know is going to need immediate success to keep knitting, this is the spool to start with. But in the long run, it just doesn't make nice cord.

The hands down winner in our group was the Susan Bates Crystalites french knitter. It doesn't have a cute little face, but it comes in all these fun colors like yellow, purple, green.... And because it's see through, the child can actually see how much cord they've made even before there's enough done to hang out the bottom of the spool. (Trust me, in the first few minutes, this makes a HUGE difference!) The spool is nice and long, making it easy to hold. The pegs are straight, so not particularly easy to use, but they are longer than the Lion Brand spool's pegs, giving you a little more room for moving loops around, and the pin that comes with this spool has a little crochet-type hook on one end, giving you two options for grabbing the loops (I find that the regular point works best for me, but some of the kids really liked having the hook). The opening is plenty big for the yarn to be easily threaded at the start and for the cord to fall down as it is knitted. And since it's made of plastic, the yarn slides right through nicely. It's also not any more expensive than the other spools.

Conclusion: It's cool looking, it's functional, we liked it, we really liked it! And if your kids lose the little pin that comes with it, you can always buy some of the Susan Bates Crystalites yarn needles, which come in the same fun colors, to use to pull the loops off the spool.

Wishing you happy spooling!

Time for first grade knitting again! This week I thought I'd take a break from forcing all my first graders to sit and try to knit and instead talk to them a little bit about all the different places yarn comes from. And who better to help me out with the question of where yarn comes from than Clara Parkes, author of the most excellent book, The Knitter's Book of Yarn!

Last year Clara played a little mystery yarn game with some of us, sending us teeny mini-skeins of mystery yarns and leaving us to test our knowledge of yarn and guess their content.

I'll be bringing in some of those wonderful yarns to show the girls in my class, so they can see the wide range of fibers that are used to make yarns. With a few additions from my stash, we can play a guessing game of our own, trying to match up each yarn with the picture of its source.

 
sheep & goats

 
bunny & cotton

 
alpaca & silkworm

 
flax & wood pulp

 
yak & buffalo

I'll have Clara's book for back-up, in case they want to know why sheep's wool is the most common and popular source of yarn (it's hygroscopic - look it up in Clara's book! - flame retardant and very resilient), whether angora comes from angora goats or angora bunnies (it's bunnies; the goats produce mohair), why alpacas spit so much (possibly self-defense against all those squealy, touchy school kids that visit them in the petting zoo), how on earth we can get yarn from a worm (the worm can secrete 800 yards of fibroin in one continuous thread!), and why you might ever want to get yarn from a yak (his rugged, warm coat can be spun into a rugged, warm coat for you too). I'll also bring my little mole book with the story of how little mole gathered up flax and washed it and combed it and found other animals to spin it, weave it and cut and sew it into trousers.

I hope it's cute enough to entertain the kids for a few minutes at least. If not, I've just got to hope that the snacks hold out long enough to get us through the period!

Getting ready for my kids' knitting class again. So far, I've got four girls knitting, one saying she can knit but doesn't want to, two spooling pretty confidently, and four goofing off. The i-cord craft projects saved the day last week, entertaining the non-knitters for the hour while I got the first four all set up with needles. For today, I've set up yarn and needles for those last seven to see if I can't get them started knitting too.

The girls and I are enjoying the little knitting poem from Melanie Falick's Kids Knitting book that helps you remember the steps of the knit stitch. I never quite got the one about 'in the door', 'through the window' and 'off jumps jack' and all that. What's the door, why does it switch to a window and who's jack? Didn't make sense to me, so I'm not going to teach it! I love this one about the sheep though: 'Under the fence, catch the sheep, back we come, off we leap.' I may have changed a word or two from Melanie Falick's version, but I really feel like this rhyme better captures what's going on. The under the fence has been really helpful for when the girls want to insert the right needle and cross it over and on top the left needle. We imagine the left needle is the fence and they must go under it. Why? To catch the sheep, of course, who runs around the back of the needle as we wrap the yarn. We catch him when we bring the yarn between the needle tips and then, as we bring the needle back out we make sure that he doesn't get away. I love that image of catching the sheep because it really helps the kids spot that new loop of yarn that we're making. And off we leap with the sheep!

Can you hear my gritted teeth? I've been making i-cord for two days now, preparing for my next after-school knitting class with the kids.

We started with knitting spools last week. Some of the girls managed an inch or so of knitted cord, a couple made more, and a few did nothing at all (says 8-year old who looked out the window during my demonstration: "I didn't get it.") This week, I'm bringing in some i-cord and some craft ideas. Hopefully, they'll make some things and be inspired to make a little more i-cord with their knitting spools.

I found several pretty and basic i-cord projects in this awesome book my mom spied at Purl this weekend.

It's called Girls' Best Book of Knitting, Sewing, and Embroidery and it really has projects at just the right level for crafty little girls. The projects are all very stylish and cute and the instructions kept very simple. I'll be making these little i-cord/felt flowers with the girls in my knitting class.

In the sewing section, there's funny sock and glove creatures:

And even patterns to make clothes for the sweet little cardboard doll you can pop out of the cover:

There's so much more in this book. Check it out if you've got crafty girls in your house. Oooooh, I can't wait until I can start crafting with wee one!

Here's something I'm soooo excited about! Starting later this week, I'll be teaching a little after-school knitting class to first through fifth graders at my boys' elementary school. I've always wanted to do this!

I've been poking around the bookstore and library to find some good resources for teaching kids to knit and cute patterns that the kids can actually make. I want to have a nice collection of projects that can be made out of simple pieces and basic shapes. A scarf, a flat hat, a headband are great options and are in all the kids' knitting books like Melanie Falick's must-have book, Kids Knitting. But I also wanted to find some projects that kids will be really excited to make. And I got really excited when I saw Kids Learn to Knit by Lucinda Guy (I looove her other books, especially And So to Bed which has Otto the Owl in it!).

Just look at how she transforms a knitted square into a funny toy!

I want to make one of these just for me! I'm really psyched about this find. The whole book has the same sort of whimsical attitude that her other books do with cute drawings and fun pictures and the knitting instructions are written with the same approach. Man, I just like her style.

Melanie Falick's book is an excellent resource though with great info and patterns as well as little chapters on finger knitting and yarn dyeing and making knitting needles - all things I'm thinking about trying with the kids. I'm also planning on doing some spool knitting with them - although it's something I've never really done before. Any suggestions on what the kiddos could do with lots of i-cord? And any other tips or resources you can recommend would be much appreciated!

supplies!

I've heard that at least half of the students who signed up are girls from the boys' classes. I hope they have a good time cause I see all their moms all the time!