Friday, October 12, 2007

Mitten Class

I taught the first session of mitten class last night. I had 5 students who were thrilled to be learning something new. All of these ladies have been in previous classes that I've taught, so I was flattered that they must have thought my previous classes were good enough that they decided to take another class from me. I have been known to be somewhat bossy with a "my way, no highway option" attitude and I've been trying really hard to get that under control.

At the beginning of class, I told my students that my goal for this class session was for them to have their mitten knitted up to the point where the thumb hole starts. Here's the photographic evidence of their progress.

"OK, everyone put your mitten on your hand and hold it up so I can take a picture for my blog."

A couple of the students didn't quite get to that point, but I think they had a good understanding of the process and hopefully will be back next week with their mitten finished almost to the top when I will teach them how to do the decreases and finish off their mitten.

This was also a good test of my pattern-writing skills and I will have to 'tweak' my pattern a little to make it more understandable for all knitting skill levels. (P.S. to Trixie & Ruth, I will send your patterns after I've made the revisions, OK?)

And getting back to my personality traits, I took a little personality test this morning over at Barefoot Gardener's blog and here are my results:

You Are 1: The Reformer

You're a responsible person - with a clear sense of right and wrong.

High standards are important to you, and you do everything to meet them.

You are your own worst critic, feeling ashamed if you're not perfect.

You have uncompromising integrity, and people expect you to be fair.

At Your Best: You are hopeful, honest, and inspiring. You bring out the best in humanity.

At Your Worst: You are intolerant, judgmental, and picky.
Comment: I think I'm usually at my worst more than my best (at least at work anyway) :-/

Your Fixation: Resentment

Your Primary Fear: Being corrupt.

Your Primary Desire: To be good.

Other Number 1's: Al Gore, Martha Stewart, Gandhi, Celene Dion, and Spock from Star Trek.

(holy crap--Martha Stewart, that's intimidating! no wonder some family members call me "the warden")

Hey, have a little fun this weekend and take the test yourself. Be sure to post a comment and let me know "What Number Are You"

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

My mom knits. I know how to knit. Should I knit?

I'm a "six" by the way... (The Loyalist)

Jayne said...

A good teacher can look at themselves and see what they need to change in their presentation. Sounds to me like you are a wonderful teacher, else these women would not have signed up! Good job! I'll have to take the test and let you know. I have a feeling many of my results will be the same.

Robin (Bumblebee) said...

Here's a surprise (not), I'm a #1 Reformer too. Very fun!

--Robin (Bumblebee)

RuthieJ said...

Hi Jennifer,
You should knit only if you enjoy it (not because someone thinks you should).
I must admit that I am a knitting & yarn addict and couldn't imagine *not* being able to knit something with new yarn I just bought (even though I already have hundreds of skeins of yarn stashed away at home).

Hi Jayne,
It was a fun class. Three of the students were in my previous hat class and they brought their finished hats to show me. Now they're making their mittens to match their hats! That was pretty cool, I thought.

Hey Robin,
Good for you! Personally, I feel this world needs more reformers to overtake all the *slackers* ;-)

Mary said...

I'm a #9 - The Peacemaker. I thought it was difficult to choose only one description in each category.

I'm glad your knitting students had a good time in the front camera!

Anonymous said...

I'm a #2. No surprise to me.

Susie said...

I'm #2, the Helper. Seemed pretty accurate, but it was hard to choose just one answer on several questions.
Your students look happy with their progress :)
xo

RuthieJ said...

Hi Mary,
I had a hard time choosing only one answer in some of the categories also.

I only asked them to pose for 1 picture and it was towards the end of the evening, so I think they were too tired to resist.

Hi Sissy,
Looks like you and Susie are the same--Helpers. Do you have it saved? I would like to see how it's defined.

Hi Susie,
You're a helper too (like my Sissy).
I think my students were amazed at their progress. Mittens seem so mundane to me, but I can remember I was excited about my first one many years ago also.