Transferable skills

Ever since I first saw medieval reliquary bags from Sion, Switzerland I’ve been thinking about making one.  They boasts many different patterns, a rich variety of colors and the knitting was made with tiny needles, intimidatingly tiny.  Enter fiber mentor.  As it turns out good teachers pay attention and come up with clever projects to have students learn things that sometimes they’re not even aware they’re learning.  The process seems to go something like this:  Step 1-tease student with lots of great books with beautiful pictures of amazing fiber projects that they drool over, Step 2-identify an attainable project that really appeals, Step 3-enable the student to create a thing that won’t take too long or tax them too much.  Repeat.  All the while advancing the skills and confidence of the student.

2-color socks (a previous post) were a great start, working through some pattern reading, using 2 colors, trying different patterns, and eliciting a great feeling as the product came together in something that was pretty and usable.  Next, my awesome mentor put me to work making travel pincushions (read that “mini pincushions,“ remember Sion?) as giveaways for a project she was working on, provided some patterns, instructed me to make the pattern in the reverse colors on the opposite side, and handed me some gorgeously swirled rainbow-colored, small, size ONE needles (who wouldn’t want to work with those beauties?!—there’s something to be said for working with pretty things).  

While trying to use the small needles took getting used to, it became easier with practice and I learned I could work with them, follow (and even try making!) patterns, recognize/undo/redo bits where I made mistakes, and if there was a problem, improvise to fix it.  Doing several of these small projects was great—I could see progress in finished products fairly quickly AND give something to a cause.  Take away?  Maybe I can use tiny needles to make a Sion-sized bag.  The process also reiterated that I knit tightly and thin wooden needles break with too much pressure.  Maybe some take away here for life too…