August 1, 2013

The Next Generation...

 The women in our Paneras group love teaching new knitters, crocheters or
needleworkers. We frequently teach women how to get started, but nothing
is more fun or satisfying than teaching young people what we already know.
 Recently, two young ladies asked if we would be willing to teach them
how to knit. Adele and Ellen told their moms what they would need to
get started and the girls returned the following week anxious to learn.
The girls are actually cousins, and one of their moms sat close by to watch.

Adele took on the younger of the two, and Ellen asked the older girl to 
sit down next to her. By the end of the evening, Ellen's student was 
knitting away, while the younger one was skipping around the restaurant 
saying she'd try again later. We giggled and recognized that a few 
years in age can make quite a difference in a child's attention span.
Perhaps next year she'll be a little more enthused and coordinated to learn.
Holding those long knitting needles can be a little awkward, too.
Meanwhile, the rest of our group had settled in with their own projects.
Blankets, sweaters, washcloths and scarves were being created.

I smiled as I watched the little girls. I remember learning to knit as
a young girl. My stitches were too tight, and my hands were sticky
from being so nervous, which only made the stitches harder to move
on the needles. I was great at making squares and rectangles, so all
my Barbie™ dolls wore rectangles of fabric that I sewed together and
then cut holes in for armholes. I had no idea that the knitting would
run and my little knitted pieces would be ruined. I was creating 
something with my own hands...and I was proud. I'd made it myself.

It's the same for the young girl working on her first scarf at Paneras. 
She'll remember this years from now. We're helping make memories. 
It's really a wonderful thing to pass a creative skill on to the next 
generation. Participating in that is an honor, indeed.
DonnaAcornSignature

3 comments:

  1. How very sweet, Donna. I think it's wonderful when young girls learn to knit or crochet! Twyla

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  2. Your recap of this experience is so true. How fun to be able to teach a younger generation. The attention span of youth and concentrating on learning a skill. The memories of the actual learning. All so true. If only I had paid more attention to my Grandma and her friends I would have learned to tat and at this age not be yearning to learn with no one to teach me (DVDs and books and YouTube just don't help me much). What a wonderful group of creative ladies you have dear...

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  3. Tis so lovely to see the pretty young girls learning the crafts which are rare these days...happy teaching them...hope to see more young ones learn the crafts of yesteryears.

    Wishing you a great weekend.

    Usha
    usharaneem@yahoo.com

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Thank you so much for leaving a comment today. I'm using new settings on my comments so that I'll be able to respond to your messages to me. Be sure to come back to see my replies!

Blessings, Donna