Design Your Own Shawl PT 1

*Disclaimer: If you are expecting a technical blog, this isn’t one. This was going to be technical, but it had a mind of its’ own. I *think* the next few blogs will be more technical discussing some of the things to think about when designing a project.

I love to teach. I really don’t care what the subject is, just give me a group of people who are interested in learning, tell me what to teach and I’m happy. In fact, I’m on a bit of a high when I teach, I have boundless energy and endless patience. Some, maybe even some in my very own family, might suggest that what I really like  about teaching is hearing my own voice. While I freely admit I can, (and do) talk a lot, what I am really interested in is helping my students learn what they want to learn.

I may not be  particularly planned and organized in my daily life, but I’m very organized in my teaching style. I spend a great deal of time thinking about the skills that need to be learned, topics that should be covered and writing a layout that includes time limits. This level of organization then frees me to teach as if I have no schedule. Counter-intuitive I know but it really works.  Then there are classes that seem to defy organization. There is no linear way to get from beginning to end, it’s a big circle.

Last weekend I taught a “Design your own Shawl” class for rigid heddle weaving at Gaspereau Valley Fibres. It was one of those “where do I begin?” classes. And to be honest, the first time I have taught such a class. My previous classes have all had very clear steps (how to knit a sock, how to weave a double width blanket, how to weave log-cabin). Continuing with the honesty…I was a smidge anxious about many things the 2 weeks before the class. I had a failed weaving project that absolutely could not fail, a couple knit items on a (self-imposed) deadline and several things added into my normally quiet social life that I deemed important enough that I couldn’t say no. A few times I had to give myself a little lecture, “self, relax, take a deep breath, drink a cup of tea. If everything doesn’t get done, the world will go on.” My other self was a bit like a panicked bunny… “Do this first! No! Not that, this! No no! If you don’t do this first your whole world will end!” The lesson to be learned here is about self-importance. In the grand scheme of things, I’m not that important; if I don’t get things done the world won’t end…in fact it probably won’t even notice! (Don’t get me wrong, I think we are all valuable, myself included, and the things we do do matter, but not everything is a big thing)

But I digress…designing your own shawl. So many things to cover…choosing yarn, choosing the right reed, choosing colours, choosing patterns, calculating warp and weft amounts. And I am far from an expert on any of these topics; fortunately I don’t have to be: there are experts we can and should use. In the case of this class, I had notes and ideas and internet resources for the various topics and simply asked my students what they wanted to learn. In the end we covered all the topics in the morning. We put some of the resources to use over lunch to choose the right yarn and get enough of it and then spent the afternoon warping and beginning to weave.

The class flowed as if I had it perfectly choreographed from beginning to end. And best of all, each student learned exactly what they wanted to learn.  I got all my stuff done on time, my failed weaving project is not a failure and I got to practice choosing to be calm!

Mittens had no problem staying calm!

Ps, I’d like to thank my husband and children who took up the slack by cooking, cleaning and not asking for anything while I spent the two weeks weaving and knitting and worrying like a mad-woman! They are awesome and I am so thankful for them!