April Series: Answering the Question “Should Friends Teach Friends to Knit?”
My friend Sandi (who happens also to be a champion biathlete AND my massage therapist) is one of the most disciplined athletes I have ever met.
She asked me to create some fingerless gloves that she could layer over liners for her early a.m. cycling outings in the forest. Brrr.
We looked around and found a promising pattern (designed by Kerri Kad) for these on Knitty. Originally the pattern had an open thumb, too, but we adapted the pattern to Sandi’s specifications so that she can easily brake and change gears.
Sandi’s hands may be small, but they are powerful. It took a couple of mockups before we could adapt the pattern design to work. I might add, when I sent my son (who is 6′3″ and about 210 lbs.) for his first ever massage with Sandi, all he could say is “She is the strongest woman I have ever seen.” Did I mention that Sandi is MAYbe 5′ tall and MAYbe weighs 85 lbs. What a brute!
Now Sandi wants knitting lessons. Swapping knitting lessons for massages? I’m down. Knitting between friends sounds like a good thing, but is it?
Loving the idea of spreading this skill around, I have taught a couple of people successfully but also had my share of failures.
What do you think? Should friends even try to teach friends to knit??
Comment // April 10th, 2008 // 12:32 pm
I don’t know about teaching friends. However, all grandmothers should teach their grandchildren how to knit AND crochet. That’s how I learned. Not, by the way, from my mom, though she did teach me how to sew. I would guess that the answer to your question is that it depends upon the friend. Sounds to me like Sandi has hands and fingers that know what they are doing; she should be a good learner.
Comment // April 11th, 2008 // 5:16 am
Dunno about friends teaching friends, but I’m all for daughters teaching moms.
Comment // April 11th, 2008 // 8:55 am
GJ, I agree that it’s a grandmotherly duty to teach their grandkids those skills. Like you, I also learned knitting and crocheting from my grandma and sewing from my mom. I delivered needles to Sandi yesterday, she has her practice yarn and looks like a go.
SB, ok, then, come to town ready next week! There is a skein in a drawer with your name on it!