I wanted to share an experience that is closely tied to JSThreads. Over the weekend, I taught my very first class, a crochet class!
Leading up to the day, I was pretty anxious about how it was going to go, but crocheting is something I’ve done for almost a long time.
I like to overly prepare for things of this nature, so I spent quite a bit of time working up a document for myself, a little packet of information for each class member, and gathering the materials. I provided the printed pattern, stuffing, safety eyes, and crochet hook, and I brought yarn for people to choose from as well.
This class was aimed at people who had a basic understanding of crochet. With that said, I went through making an amigurumi, specifically this ice cream turtle amigurumi from Yarn and Clay Shop (with permission). I purchased copies of the pattern for each member. Since these little guys work up so wonderfully and so quickly, they made for a perfect project to teach in a span of a couple of hours.
This also makes for a great project to show crocheters how to create an amigurumi since the basic techniques are a magic ring, increasing, single crochet, and decreasing. It is the combination of these that can get you really far in understanding other amigurumi patterns or creating your own!
Each member got to take home this little packet of information, including my favorite resources for help and other crochet patterns.
This was set up to be hands on. I went over the basics to get everyone started, and then I also brought premade sections to show how to work on specific areas like adding the safety eyes, sewing together the fins, adding the scalloped edges to the shell, and stitching everything together.
It ended up taking a little longer to get everyone situated, however, so we did not get as far as I would have liked, but I tried to give a basic overview of the full project before everyone left.
Also, I intended to take photos of the class itself while everyone was working, but time flew by and I completely lost track of it, so no photos :/.
I had some of the more detailed turtles I created to show how people can add to amigurumi.
I want to thank the people who signed up for this class and the Artisans at the Dahmen Barn for providing the opportunity and venue to teach it!
I decided to also include the stitch guidelines online too! The links below will take you to a different page on my website where there will be an HTML version of the instructions (the text and photos are directly on the web page), and there will also be a downloadable PDF with the exact same information in case that works better for you!
Note: These are working off of the assumption that you have a base knowledge of crochet. All of these techniques are worked in single crochet.
These are super cute. I bet it was a fun class
Thanks! There were things that could have gone better, but I learned a lot while doing it!