This morning, I taught my first crochet class. It's a 6 week series at the Association for the Blind. I have three students. Today, my goal was to show them different fibers, get their tension set by showing them how to hold the yarn and hook, and get them started doing chain stitches.
I joked during the yarn and project show-and-tell that since we couldn't go to the yarn shop, I brought the yarn shop to them, courtesy of Hubby's & my stash. I showed them acrylics, 100% wool, wool blends, bamboo, mohair, novelty yarns like ribbon and fun fur, fleece, chenille, and even sugarcane. I showed them some scarves, a sweater, a shawl, a market bag, gloves, and a hat.
One student already knew how to chain, so I showed her how to do single crochet. She was off and running, and had several inches of single crochet done by the end of class. The second student was very needy and monopolized my attention. I'll need to manage her better next week. The frustrating thing for me was that she wouldn't or couldn't follow directions, and kept trying to do things her own way. That's okay within reason, but just because you can weave with your fingers, doesn't mean you can ditch the hook and crochet with your fingers, too. By the end of class, she did have a short chain going. I hope she practices this week like I've asked her. My poor third student didn't get anywhere at all. Every time I went over to her to begin showing her how to chain, the second one would interrupt and call me back. She tried to see what the first student was doing, but the distance across the table was too much. Next week, I'm going to seat #1 and #3 together and see if that works better, as well as not let #2 monopolize my attention.
Just lost my sight. Already know to crochet but doing without sight is hard. Any tipd for tunsian crochet basics? Thanks Holly
ReplyDeleteHolly, your hands already know the motions, so it should get easier for you as you adjust to your vision loss. Feel your stitches and crochet fabric. For Tunisian simple stitch, you should be able to feel the one strand of yarn in front of your hook after you put it in, before you pull the loop up onto your hook. You can count Tunisian stitches on your hook top, as you go across, 1 yarn strand equals 1 stitch. You can count Tunisian rows by counting the rows of v's up the right side (they look and feel like chain stitches). HTH. Whatever you do, don't give up! We're proof that you can continue crocheting no matter what your vision is like.
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