Day 17: Teaching Lou: Lesson One

Lou approached me very seriously just before Christmas.

"In colonial times kids learned to knit when they were 4 years old.  I'm late because I'm six. And you know what else?"

"What?"

"You'll be very interested in this," she said in an ominous tone.

"Really? What is it?" 

"They were also allowed to drink BEER." She shouted the last word and stared at me with her gigantic brown eyes waiting for my response.

"WHAT?" I yelled dramatically, pretending to be appalled. 

"That is pretty inappropriate, " my 9 year old interrupted, looking up from his homework.

"Well, since I know you won't let me drink beer, can you at least teach me to knit or crochet,"  Lou chirped. "We know I'm ready now."

"Well, that is the least I can do." I answered. 

And there was. the moment I had been waiting for, the moment one of my kids showed an interest in learning to crochet. Finally I could pass on a skill that enables you to take a simple hook and yarn and create fabric.  It still feels like magic to me. Plus, when the shit goes down, I am certain that crochet will be on the list of valued skills. Maybe not at the top, but at least somewhere in the middle.

I got Lou a basket and filled it books , needles, and balls of the happiest,  brightest, yarn I could find and after the holidays we did our first lesson.

She didn't get it. Sitting there with the yarn and hook in her little hands, Lou tried over and over to put the yarn over the hook and and pull it through.  She just couldn't figure out tension.    

I wasn't much help. After 30 years of crocheting, it is an instinct, and I was having trouble teaching it.

"Let's take it up again tomorrow."

And as those things go a few days passed before I grabbed some purple yarn and a hook and called out to Lou, "come on, let's do this." 

When she saw what I had planned her face didn't brighten as I expected it to.  "Do we have to?" she asked sadly. 

Then she explained that she was no good at crocheting and it was too hard and she couldn't make anything and it wasn't any fun and she just wasn't good at it and she couldn't make the yarn look like owl which is what she wanted to make because she really likes owls and she wasn't there when we all got to see one on the road.

Back up, mama, I said to myself.  She thought she was going to make something her first time picking up a hook and yarn and I hadn't anticipated that.  

"Come watch me crochet and let's talk about what a craft is," I said returning the yarn and hook to her pink basket.

As we sat on my bed with my basket full of sock yarn between us, I explained to her that a craft is a skill that in acquired over time.  

"It is the time and effort that makes it valuable and precious.You can't just pick up a hook and yarn and make a scarf, you have apprentice for a bit like I did with my mother. You know what the first thing an apprentice does?" I asked 

Lou looked up, intrigued.

"They roll up yarn for a bit before they get to touch the hook.  You need to get the feel of yarn in your hands."

So, our first crochet lesson was really not about crochet at all.  

And Lou watched me finish a granny and she learned to roll yarn and I finally got someone else to roll up my yarn for me.  

I just love watching little hands at work.

And by the way, here is today's square - I almost forgot all about her.