Comment on comments

First of all I want to thank everyone who left me a comment on my "She done your wrong" post. It's good to hear that so many agree that doing it yourself is the best way to learn.

I've mentioned my bi-polar student several times before. She's been coming in to see me almost everyday. She completed her second scarf project today. It would have been so much easier on me if I had done her bind off and a lot faster. But following my own advice I showed her how and sat with her as she did each arduous step. There were not a lot of ends to weave in but we did it the same way, slowly, with me pointing out where she should insert the crochet hook and reminding her to turn the hook sideways to pull the yarn through.

I'm pretty sure we'll have to go through the same process the next time but she will eventually get it. It took about two weeks for her to become fully confident in doing the knit stitch. We did purling today. She had a much easier time learning the purl stitch. I'll probably have to get her started again tomorrow but I think she's really making progress.

She cast on for another longways scarf today. Sixty five stitches is a lot for her to get entirely right but she did it. Well there were a couple of wobbly stitches but they worked well enough. What I'm really seeing is that she is beginning to identify where the errors are. Like most of us, she'd prefer to ignore the errors and just keep going but she stops and asks for help.

Ann Mary thinks I'm spending too much time with her. She'd be much happier if I just let her buy any novelty yarn that she liked and let her struggle with it. My own self-interest won't let me do that. I'm the one who has to work with her. Plus I don't think that's a very good way for her to learn.

Anyway, I'm happy with her progress and so is she. This may be an extreme example of hands on learning but I think it applies.