Help!!
Beginning Knitting: OK Peeps, here's the problem du jour--I'm teaching a beginning knitting class starting March 30 at The Recycled Lamb. Have I ever done this before? No. Do I have a clue how to do it? Like no.
I know the result I want. At the end of six weeks, I want 'em knitting, purling, increasing, decreasing, casting on, binding off and calculating gauge. But how to start? One of the beginning teachers launches them on a swatch--The Lamb's recipe for a perfect gauge. Want it? Here it is...
Cast on 24 stitches. Knit 4 rows. (No purling!!!)
Then:-
Row 1... Knit 2, Purl 20, Knit 2.
Row 2... Knit 24.
Repeat rows 1 and 2 for three inches.
Knit 4 rows. (No Purling!!!!) BO
The swatch teaches knitting, purling, casting on and binding off. She doesn't make 'em calculate gauge until later in the class when she starts them knitting that beanie hat every college kid in America wears.
Here's my deal: I'm concerned about boredom factor. I want them to have immediate project gratification --a scarf, perhaps--but who wants to untangle beginner projects in mohair and eyelash? Mom says the discipline of the swatch is better. How would you get them started? What are the best beginning projects out there? Best beginner books?
What would you do? WWEZD? (What would Elizabeth Zimmerman do?)
Happy St. Patty's Day: Irish flutist James Galway is a total rock star! (Saw him in concert last night.) Go listen to him play Danny Boy and pick a shamrock.
8:12:20 AM 
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