Just a quick update

Check out my happy little buttoneers from last week's class!

Crafty kids + brains the size of planets + yarn and buttons = about a dozen of the world's most interestingly non-standard ways to sew buttons onto plastic canvas.  I wish I had taken pictures of some of their finished projects - it was a total hoot to see what they came up with.  And of course, good little craft teacher that I am, I told them all that as long as they were happy with the results, it looked great to me.  And it did ... as long as you didn't plan on actually using the buttons for anything!

Fun with Fibers, week 5: Sewing

This week we're entering the exciting world of sewing through a rather practical door - buttons!  I'm sure I'm not the only mother who seems to spend half of her free time finding buttons in the wash, finding buttons in the backpack, figuring out which buttons go where, cursing the lack of matching buttons in my button box, and finally sewing the darn things back onto my kid's clothes.  Tell me I'm not alone, people!

After today's tutorial the kids should be able to sew a button back on by themselves.  Well, okay, maybe with a little hand-holding (and needle-threading), but it's still an improvement over complete cluelessness.  And it gets them ready to sew more exciting things next week!

You can read more about the history of sewing on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewing
More about the history of buttons here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A23623616

If you happen to have a lot of buttons laying around (thanks, mom, for the 5-pound tin of yard sale buttons last summer!), there are lots of cool crafts for kids to make with them.  Some involve sewing, lots involve glue, and all of them are fun.  You can find an overview of them here: http://www.google.com/images?q=button+crafts&hl=en&prmd=i&source=lnms&tbs=isch:1&ei=UAf9TODCM8H7lweZpLyMBQ&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&ved=0CBUQ_AU&biw=1138&bih=544

A couple of my favorites:

Well, that's about it for this week.  I'd better go shovel out my driveway if I'm going to make it to school in time!

Fun with Fibers, week 4: Finger crochet

Today we're learning how to finger crochet, which is an easier variation of finger knitting or spool knitting.  It's exactly the same as making a regular crocheted chain, only we're using our fingers instead of a crochet hook.  The finished chain is similar to what you'd get using a lucet, a medieval device used to make cord and rope: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucet

Wikipedia has a good history of crochet, which you can find here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crochet

All crochet starts with a slipknot of some sort - you can see the technique for making one here:

The technique I'm teaching the kids in class gives you the same result as the techniques you can find online, I just think it's a little easier for the young kids to learn my method.  But if you want the "official" way, you can find a good tutorial here:
http://www.wikihow.com/Crochet-a-Bracelet-With-Your-Fingers

There are plenty of other crochet and braiding techniques that don't require tools, but I haven't tried them all (yet!).  Here are some that might be fun if your child has exhausted the potential of finger crochet:
http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/FEATfingerknitting.html
http://www.stringpage.com/braid/fl/fingerloop.html

And finally, if your child is ready to try spool knitting, you have lots of choices of "spools" or "nancies" to use.

The bottom one is the one my daughter uses.  The little arm on the side helps tension the yarn, and the part with the prongs on the top spins so you don't have to keep turning the whole thing around.

Finally, spool knitting is pretty much the same thing as the knitting looms you see at craft stores that can be used to make everything from socks to hats to scarves to blankets.  They generally come with directions, and they make great gifts if you've got a child who has a long attention span and an interest in crafts.

Obligatory holiday knitting - complete!

Last night I finished weaving in the ends on the two gifts I'm making for LazyKid's teachers. It's a relief to be done, even if I can't post pics until after the gifts have been opened. That was all the 'required' knitting I had for this year. It's a nice change from the Great Sock Experiment of 2008 and the Cowl Christmas of 2009. Making your gifts is fun, for the first half-dozen people. After that, gift cards start looking like a really good idea!

Have you seen my mojo?

Finished one teacher's present, and I'm 1/3 of the way done with the second, and I.  can.  not.  work.  on.  it. It's like I sit down to do it and my head explodes or something.  Can't decide if it's a version of Second Sock Syndrome, or if there's something wrong with the project and I just haven't consciously figured it out yet.  Only time will tell, I guess!

Fun with Fibers, week 2: Spinning

This week we're covering how to take individual fibers and turn them into things like yarn, rope, and thread.  A good overview of some of the history behind spinning can be found here: http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/clothing/spinning.htm

I'm demonstrating the use of a drop spindle, which I made using a blank CD, a blob of Play-Dough, and a highlighter.  You can find information on how to make your own (slightly more durable) homemade version of a drop spindle at many sites online, including here: http://www.spindleandwheel.com/content/view/15/76/

Our project this week is a twisted cord, which we'll use as a hanger for a fall decoration.  I've included printed directions in my handout, but if anyone has mislaid them, you can find (illustrated) directions at the following locations:

http://www.slideshare.net/kootoyoo/how-to-make-twisted-cord-presentation

http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/feast.html

And that's about it, I guess.  Hope everyone is having fun and learning a lot!

Relieving some aggression

I've been trying out some new techniques as I prepare for the class I'm teaching to my daughter's kindergarten class, and with the surplus of leaves in our yard, it seemed like a good time to try leaf pounding.  Here's a Japanese maple leaf on untreated muslin:

I had the best luck with the leaves that were the juiciest - the ones I picked right off the tree worked even better than ones from the same tree that had already fallen.  I got a purply-brown (the Japanese maple), a pretty bright red (from a burning bush plant), and even a spring green (from a sweet gum tree that hadn't turned yet).

I was surprised by just how much pounding was required to get this to work, and by how tricky it was to find leaves that were flat enough to show up well.  Anything with really raised veins prevented the hammer from reaching the non-veined parts easily, which gave a pretty bad transfer.  You can even see in my "good" ones above that I ran out of interest before I was able to completely fill in the outline of the leaf.

I can't decide whether this would be a good project for the class or not.  On the plus side, who doesn't have fun with hammers?  On the minus side, do I want to be responsible for eight 5-yr-olds armed with hammers?  Probably not.  Maybe I'll write it up as a bonus project to try at home ... yeah, that's the ticket!