Tuesday, 30 December 2003

Teresa at Making Light found an interesting article about a knitting program in a school.

They may have sounded like little old ladies at a sewing circle, but in fact they were schoolchildren at Seth Boyden Elementary School in Maplewood, N.J. Instead of going outside for recess, they were sitting on the floor in a hallway a week ago, knitting scarves, doll clothes, bags.

Judith Symonds, an instructional aide at the school, started the knitting program last year as a winter activity, something to do at recess when the playground was too wet or frozen. Ms. Symonds taught 85 children and 20 adults how to knit. As others heard about the program, they wanted in, too. It grew so popular that the sessions continued even as the spring thaw came, right up until the very last day of school. They resumed as soon as school started in September.

Now, more than 250 of the school’s 535 pupils take part in the program, which still takes place in the hallway during recess.

[knitting is] a socially acceptable buffer activity for family gatherings. It's not OK to pull out a book and read at a holiday party. But it's OK to pull out your knitting. Then, when people want to talk to you, the first thing they do is ask about what you're making, and that's a nice SAFE subject, much better than the usual family-gathering nosiness.

There are a lot of those false dichotomies kicking around in the educational system. For instance, Art Kids aren't mathematicians: someone close to me got screwed by that one. Kids who do words don't do art is a closely related error. Academically-gifted non-jock females are neither warriors nor adrenaline junkies messed up at least half a dozen women I know, which means it probably did the same to a lot of other women I'm acquainted with, but whose histories I haven't known in sufficient detail. Boys aren't interested in civilized pursuits, and don't desire the benefits and protection of civilized society is a particularly evil one. So is high achievers have no problems. I'll grant that jocks who go in for high-status sports are overprivileged; but There's an inverse relationship between how intelligent you are and how much you care about sports has screwed up a lot of bright kids.

I tried to learn how to crochet once and failed miserably. Learning to knit or crochet does intrigue me because of the portability and sociability factors; maybe someday. Too many quilt projects to work on at the moment, though!

I blame the person who tried to teach you to crochet for your failure! Really, I do.

      Quilty comment by Katxena on 30 December 2003

Nono -- I think it's just that I'm too impatient and oddly-handed. (Some things left, some things right...)

      Quilty comment by ATQ on 30 December 2003

Argh. This makes me want to learn to knit all over again, but I'm afraid I don't have the wrists to do it. Man, to have a crafty activity that's portable is so appealing though. And don't tell me that quilting is portable. I don't *do* handwork when it comes to sewing. That's what machines are for:)

I'm going to have to check out Theresa's article.

      Quilty comment by Joni on 30 December 2003

ATQ: Still, a better teacher could have helped with that!

Joni: There is a method of knitting (called Continental style) that is easy on the wrists -- the needles do all the work, and there's no flicking of yarn as there is in the English or American styles. Just something to think about.

      Quilty comment by Katxena on 31 December 2003

After re-reading my comment, I realized that a crochet teacher probably would not be able to help much with the "impatient" part of your diagnosis -- but only with the "oddly-handed" part. :)

      Quilty comment by Katxena on 31 December 2003

I do know how to crochet, but haven't done it in YEARS. Reading all these crafty weblogs lately has been making me think about taking it up again. Perhaps the right project inspiration will push me back to the yarn store . . .

      Quilty comment by Liz on 4 January 2004