Wednesday, April 18, 2007

D, The Crochet Fanatic in Room 243

In December I taught my students to knit and crochet. Some have since abandoned the needlecrafts, but others have continued. D is one of those who continued. While I have a handful of girls who have gone on to make scarves and scrunchies, none of the boys have kept up the stitching. Save for one - D. D is one of those kids that has trouble when routines change. It is my understanding that in the past, if routines changed too much, D would vomit. Poor kid.

After mastering the chain and single crochet, D was in business. Literally. One of the first things he made was a purse originally intended for his mother. Another boy offered to buy it and promptly gave it to his girlfriend. Cha-ching! D just racked up his first sale.

One day on the busride to school, D dropped his ball of yarn. Of course, being on a moving vehicle, the yarn rolled around. Some other kids on the bus began kicking it around. D eventually got the yarn back, but not before the bus driver scolded HIM for causing a disruption! Never mind that the other kids chose to cause trouble instead of picking up the yarn and letting D be. The bus driver told D he couldn't bring yarn on the bus anymore. Ms. Sh and I decided that if D wants to take yarn on the bus, D can take yarn on the bus. I don't need to go into great detail here. Long story short...I ordered two yarntainers from amazon.com and had them delivered to D at school. Yarn-rolling-around-the-floor-of-bus problem solved. He ALWAYS has a yarntainer and a project with him. It's kinda cool.

During bathroom break about three weeks ago, D walks up to me in the hallway, hook attached to ball of yarn, and asks, "Do you know how to make a shell stitch?"

Soon after that, during another bathroom break, he walks up to me carrying a yarntainer of yarn and a binder open to a print out of a Lion brand free pattern for fingerless mittens. He declares that this is his next project. Never mind that spring it trying desperately to free us from the jaws of winter. D wants fingerless mittens. He walks up to me and says, "Can you help me get started with the ch 19 at the beginning of the pattern?" Here's a pic from that moment in crochet history.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Tuesdays and Thursdays D has speech class. On Tuesday, we go to the computer lab right after D finishes speech. This week he walks over to his computer and starts opening the email I sent. As I scanned the class to see if everyone was on task, I look at D's hand. There it is. It's not quite the original pattern. Sitting on his right hand was one white wool fingerless mitten. So what if it's April! D wants fingerless mittens NOW! Here is a picture of Tuesday afternoon in the lab.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

2 comments:

crissy said...

way to go D ! i love stories like this. taught my son now 28 how to crochet at an early age. he hasnt picked up a needle since but he sure knows what it is and has an appreciation for what goes into the knitting items i make him. but when one young student picks up crafts of any kind like this wow and keep at it let alone a boy? now that is awesome. reminds me of my dad who knit his own socks and taught all us kids to knit. yep boys and girls alike to him crafts didnt have a gender. he would always say if you need socks knit them yourself LOL i will always love him for it. though he isnt the one taught me how to knit socks i just barely learned how to knit when he passed on. even mom knit but not as good as he did . i hear tell he even held knit groups at the house before i came along . and he was a macho commercial fisherman here in alaska owned his own boat. go figure LOL :)

Unknown said...

I love when someone finds a skill that fills them with pride. I teach knitting to kids at a local school & have seen success in one area lead to trying & succeeding in others. Congrats on oopening a door for D.