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Young Knitters - "You've got to be kidding!"
The City of London Academy would like to thank Coats Crafts UK for their generous donation of Coats and Rowan knitting yarns earlier this year.
The Academy is a brand new school in South Bermondsey, London and currently only has two year groups including Year 7 and 8 students. It will eventually expand to offer subjects up to A-Level standard. Mrs Monk is the Design and Technology Teacher-in-charge-of-Textiles and organises a small club on a Monday afternoon for budding textile designers.
A group of ten students aged between 11 and 13 years old were enthusiastic to try a joint knitting project using the fabulous array of multi-coloured and textural yarns.
Their experience of knitting varied greatly from complete novice to a couple of years practice. Aldaine Wynter did not have any experience of knitting but claims, "once I started knitting it was great fun."
Bukola Sanusi has been knitting for two years and had forgotten "how easy it was to pick up where you have left off after having a break."
Some of the students were originally introduced to knitting by relatives. Jack Cassidy was inspired to start knitting by his Nan who has sixty years experience. However, they were keen to be seen as young and inspired knitters. Olawale Tijani had always thought "knitting is for Grandmothers" and was "quite shocked" her teacher had asked to "pick up a pair of needles and get creative."
The cushion project was inspired by patchwork squares using a mixture of stitches and stripes. All the students contributed various size squares using garter stitch, knit and purl and, for the more adventurous amongst us, moss stitch. Casting on was initially tricky and some students found it awkward to get used to holding two needles. After many dropped stitches and a little bit of frustration the students thought it would be useful to offer new knitters some of their top tips. Tola Agboola suggests beginners should concentrate at all times to avoid making holes. "Practice plain knit stitches first before attempting to purl" adds Bukola Sanusi. Perhaps more importantly "don’t get down-hearted if you go wrong, because practice makes perfect" says Storme Toolis.
The Textile Club are quite proud of their contributions towards the cushion that is intended to be a teaching aid for new students next year. The yarn colours and textures blend well to create an autumnal landscape. Most of the students are now hooked on knitting and will continue to practice at home. Storme Toolis says when she first started knitting "I was really bad at knitting and kept making mistakes and holes" but as she practiced she has become more confident and is now enjoying knitting a scarf. Bola Gbadamosi will continue to enjoy knitting because it is "fun and relaxing."
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