Meep!

[ferox.livejournal.com]

This February/March I’m going to be participating in one of those “get inner city kids off the street so they stop doing stupid things!” type whatsits (yay, good karma!) teaching several classes of beginner knitting and sewing. It’s really a great program, and I’m super excited about it. The classes aren’t huge, everything I want is paid for, and, of course, getting to do something I love!

So. Inspire me?

(Behind cuts because clogging your friendslist is not of the cool, yo)


I’m thinking of starting them off with a really simple drop stitch scarf, in a superbulky yarn. It would teach them to cast on, cast off, and knit. Drop stitching is basically just a knit wound a couple times around (actually, that’s exactly what it is, hah,) so that’s nice and easy and it makes the scarf go a little faster. I know when I first started, I wanted to see things Right Away, Dammit!

Any suggestions for what the superbulky yarn should be? It'd probably have to be at least a partial synthetic, since anything that would go around your neck and be soft enough would be wicked expensive. While I do get everything paid for, it’s within reason here; I think each student gets something like 25 dollars, and that has to pay for needles and yarn, and it’s over eight weeks, so multiple projects.

I’m thinking three projects? I also want, if I can, to have all three projects on the same needle size if I can, so I could maybe save some money that could go towards yarn. Mmyarn.

Project two! I’m thinking maybe some ribbed wristwarmers that you can seam up the sides? That would teach them the purl stitch and the wonder that is ribbing (oh, ribbing, how would I live without you?) and it’s great for the winters here. Which is Canada, by the way. The cold, central part. Brr. For the yarn for this one, I’m thinking of making them work a little, there’s a brand at Walmart that is cheap but soft like a mofo and... I’ve lost the label on my horde of it, so you’re just going to have to trust me that it’s nice. Or suggest other cheap yarns! Go for it.

Project three! Uh. See this is where I’m kind of at a standstill. I learned superfast, so once I was done my first scarf, I was onto circulars, leading me into the land of mittens, hats, etc. but these kids, for the most part, won't. What is the usual next step, after learning knit and purl? I’d like it to be something useful, that they’ll actually use, and not bringing in the land of DPNs. Mostly because I hate them. :D

Summed up: I need help finding a third really easy knitting pattern for teens, after learning a garter scarf and ribbed wristlets, without the use of DPNs or circulars! Also, recommendations for a cheap, superbulky yarn.

Any help is gladly welcomed and will be met with love, adoration and possible groping.




Oh, shoot. I should probably be keeping track of stitches, shouldn’t I? Oops. Anyway, these are on size nines, fairly decent, but not sure they're big enough for the first pattern, the drop stitch scarf. Maybe one pattern will be on honkin' huge needles (American 15?) and the rest on nines. I reeeeeally don't want to give them little needles; I think they'd go insane.