Last week there was no crochet lesson because the kids all had their mid-semester exams. Since school here in Indonesia starts in July, they are already halfway the first semester. During this exam week they all need to focus on the important stuff. I told them study first! No crochet till your done with exams!
Wouldn’t want any of my girls to get bad exam results because of crochet. That would be horrible.
So I had 3 new students. As expected, they could not crochet. They could not even hold the hook. 1 girl looked as if she was trying to strangle the hook. Had to literally place every finger in the right place. And even then it went wrong. Tried it over and over till it looked acceptable. This girl is only 7 years old so completely normal that she took longer to understand. Her older sister, also a student of mine, also struggled the first week and so she already knew what to expect.
The other 2 new girls were able to make an acceptable looking chain by the end of the lesson. They both will be able to move on to the next step = learn to make the single crochet.
While I was teaching the new girls and keeping an eye on the more advanced girls, there was this one girl who had already managed to make enough rows to finish her little coin purse. It’s just a simple little coin purse. Just a square envelope shape. The girl had managed to finish the whole piece till the row where you need to start decreasing. I showed her the decrease only once and within 15 minutes the whole triangular piece was done! I couldn’t believe what I saw. And to think this is that sweaty girl who couldn’t even hold a crochet hook a few weeks ago. Her hands used to be so wet from sweating that her hook kept falling!! And here she was, the first one done with her coin purse! Wow!!! 😲😲😲😲😲😲
Next week I’m gonna have her start with the next step = a magic ring and the first rows after that. She really wants to make a bee keychain. So magic ring first. I use this simplified method and I am sure she will be able to make in no time. If you want to know how this simplified method is done, have a look at the video below.
From the very beginning this girl struggled. But her will to learn is incredible. It really is. She refuses to give up. Even when she has to start over several times in an hour. It’s really nice to watch her trying. In the last lesson she had advanced quite a bit. But that was nothing compared to this week’s lesson. The girl made several rows of single crochet and only 1 tiny problem. She skips almost every last stitch of the row. So she made triangle instead of a rectangle 😬😄 But…..it was so nicely done. No bumps, no holes, no stitches that were way bigger/smaller than the others. So I had no complaints. Told her next week we’re doing the same but this time we’ll need to make sure she counts her stitches.
OMG!!! This time not only did we have to deal with yarn vomit again, but it was all mixed up with the yarn of another girl. Good Looooooord!!!!! This was one of those head scratching moments where you just want to cut it and get rid of the mess. But I can’t do that of course. Used this as an opportunity to once again teach the girls how to fix this mess.
It’s really simple actually = find the end, see where it goes and pull it out of there. Repeat. Bit by bit we were able to fix the mess and no yarn had to be cut 🥳🥳🥳.
No, there was no ghost. Just the headmistress 😂😂😂. She decided to sit with us not just a few minutes but the whole time. Everyone on their best behavior. And to add to this, the school foundation’s president was there too. With a broken arm of all things! Not only did the girls have to behave impeccably, they also had to watch out to make sure they wouldn’t run into a broken arm.
We didn’t mind though. The girls got to show what they had learned and proudly did so. And I thought they had reason to be proud because they were doing so well. Surprisingly well actually.
The thing is, with a group like this, a bunch of very active girls, it’s not always easy to stay focused. There’s always someone to disturb you. So considering this + no lesson last week and that awfully hot weather, I think they are learning really fast. I honestly thought it would take longer for them to learn to crochet neatly.
That girl 😄… 2 stitches: “look I made 2 stitches, what do you think?” A couple of seconds later: “look I made 2 more. Have a look again.” And so on. The whole lesson… Literally the whole lesson! She wanted it to be perfect so badly. Told her to relax. Don’t pressure yourself so much. If you mess up a row, well then you mess it up. It’s just crochet… . It should be fun. No need to be all stressed about how it looks. With practice comes perfection. Till then it’s ok if things look ‘interesting’.
I’m happy with how things went today. Even with 3 new girls and that yarn vomit, things still went smoothly. Had the girls go home 10 minutes earlier than planned. It was getting very cloudy. And they weren’t just clouds but really angry looking, dark clouds. Because there was some flooding last week, I didn’t want to risk having the girls go home in such weather. Flooding can start fast and it can go wrong really quickly when you’re in the middle of it all. So going home early seemed like the right thing to do.
Was born in Belgium but moved to Indonesia as a child. Have been living here ever since. I absolutely LOVE crochet and knitting. I made this blog to help others get to the same level as me. And to make sure people have a place to come to with questions. Even the very beginner questions. Go ahead and ask me!
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