With summer vacations, we took a little break from World Religions this summer. We asked those in the congregation who have a hobby that involves using their hands to share it with the children and youth. We had crochet, coloring mandalas, card making, basketweaving, knitting and even cake decorating. The children could see what those in the congregation enjoy making, and the congregation got to spread word on a favorite hobby.
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| Finger knitting to the right, learning to spool yarn on the left. |
Christine (the author of this post) ended up teaching knitting. I brought a lot of the more whimsical stuff I've made over the years: a fox hat, a hedgehog toy, shark mittens. And then with a bag of scrap yarn, I taught the children to finger knit. You wrap the yarn around each of your four fingers to create the first row, and make the stitches by wrapping the yarn across all four fingers, and pulling the previous row over the new loop, for each finger. This makes a long tube (since most people can only make four stitches.) I turned my sample project into a snake, which has since become a favorite cat toy in our house.
By the end of the hour, we had children from age 6 to 16 making knitted tubes, even some of the youth who had felt craft-challenged over the years.
This was a great way to spread the love of making something by hand to the next generation. Thanks to all the people who shared a craft: Meg MacArthur, Kathy Crain, Ginny Loy, Karen Hiebel, Christine Prado, Kari Carson, Sarah Jaeschke, Michelle Bostick, Mary Orem and Sandra Sanderson (as well as anyone that Christine left off this list!)
Enjoy the pictures from the summer fun.
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| We started the summer by learning about mandalas. |
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| An experienced crocheter shows her blanket project to a classmate. |
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| A field trip to the labyrinth at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension, in Seneca. |
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| Card making with recycled materials proved to be a fun project. |
