HANDWORK THROUGH THE GRADES by Barbara Jolly, CWS Handwork Teacher
Every year, grade school students look forward to the new projects for their grade. Some have siblings who have gone before them and know what to expect, others are meeting new techniques and projects for the first time. By December, each class has learned the handwork skill for that grade level and is working away at the projects for that year. The third graders are crocheting. It’s a whole new way to work, with only one tool and learning how to use it can be frustrating at first. Soon however, students forgot their initial challenges and their single crochet stitches grew first into a pencil case to use at school, then a little round mat. Then they will start working on colorful hats.
First graders will start making their needles in September, then learn or remember how to knit and start on their first handwork project. Their next project is to make the cases for their flutes. These are long rectangles with four color changes from dark to light, all in garter stitch. These will remain in use at school until the students get the really big recorders in the upper grades.
In second grade, all the students are learning to purl, which when used in combination with knit stitches, make a very different fabric, called stockinette. They learn to purl while making a star ball, with alternating sections of garter and stockinette stitch. Then the second graders are making a very long scarf, in the shape of a snake. Every student in this lively class has a different stripe pattern for this fun project.
Page 8 - CWS Seasonal Journal, Autumn 2019
Fourth graders also learn a new technique, this time embroidery and cross stitch. A large piece of 6 count aida cloth and needlepoint yarn is being transformed, stitch by stitch into a front panel for a book bag. Fourth graders also encounter handwork homework, thus helping them to build good homework habits for the coming years. The fifth graders return to knitting, this time in the round with double pointed needles. The students start the year by refreshing their knitting skill and make some stylish wrist
