Teaching and learning
Where is the time going!
It’s nearly November and I can’t believe where the months are vanishing too.
Think it’s this being kept busy thing which is making time evaporate.
I managed to get all my work done for Bradford and made it down for the October teaching weekend. It was great to catch up with everyone again as they’re a lovely bunch. It was even better to see what everyone else had done too as they’d all created fantastic pieces.
For our first project we had to choose an Organic theme, so I chose Seashore and I used shells for my inspiration.
Here’s what the final collection of samples looked like.
Bradford project 1 knit 1 girl 1
Bradford project 1 knit 1 girl 1
Bradford project 1 knit 1 girl 1
I’m really happy how the pieces all came together and my tutor liked what I had done too, which was helpful. So, I’ve passed my first project and really need to be cracking on with my second one.
Whilst at Bradford we did a couple of new techniques that were Rya, Theo Moorman inlay, and Danish Medallions. I found these really fun as they’re a good way of being more creative with the cloth and I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do with these.
FOr my next project I’m using Portencross Castle as my inspiration.
Portencross Castle
I’ve walked past this castle countless times on dog walks and never really properly looked at it, and now that I am having to study it I am finding it fascinating. There are lots of really interesting textural details and you can see where the building has been added to over the years. My head is already full of ideas and just need to really sit down and put pen to paper.
As well as learning I’ve been getting back into teaching.
The after school Yarn Club that I run is going very well and I’ve a good group of keen and eager boy and girls wanting to learning about anything yarny and fibrey. Last term they did some weaving, a bit of crochet and the thing they love most was needle felting. Here’s some of the needle felted beings they created.
Yarn Club Needle felted crew
This term I’m going to try and get them knitting as some of them can and will see if I can get them to do some interesting techniques.
The other class I’ve been teaching is a Creative Scarf Weaving Workshop at Once A Sheep in Gourock.
This was the first adult weaving class I taught and it was a great success. By the end of the day everyone had made a scarf or a cowl and had learnt to weave new techniques.
Here’s their happy faces as proof.
Happy Scarf Weavers
I’m really enjoying teaching and I’ve been surprised as to how much fun it can be. I’m really hoping that I can do more in the future and this is the start of things to come.