On Wednesday, I'll be teaching a Beaded Shawl class at A Good Yarn Sarasota. This pattern is from Deanna's VintageStyles and it's a beautiful shawl.
This past weekend, I spent my recuperation reading the pattern and then starting the knitting process. One of the things I tell people who are either beginning knitters, or who are knitting a new technique is that "Patterns are meant to be knit, not read."
I found those words to be particularly true when going through the instructions for this shawl. Try as I may, I couldn't tell from reading it exactly how this shawl was going to work up. I couldn't tell if I'd be knitting it "top down", "bottom up" or "side to side". After setting up the yarn and beads, I began knitting the pattern and all was revealed. It will be created side to side.
Today, I'll continue working on the shawl, making class notes and taking photos to help my students envision "the next step". I think of myself as a "fearless knitter", because I'm never intimidated to try something new, but not everyone has my (sometimes obnoxious) level of confidence. Because I'm going through this process before the class, I'll be able to give some of my confidence to each of my students. By working the pattern right before they do, I'm checking each step twice for them. My students won't have to worry about pattern accuracy as they embark on this new project. I want to be sure that Wednesday is fun for all of us!
