Programming Close-Up: Art- Crocheting

The students learn the basics
of "warps" and "wefts"

As the program year is well under way, we want to give you better insight into how our after-school program operates and what we will be doing together this year. The post "What's New for After-School" briefly explains the basic structure for our programming; check it out for more info! To sum up that post, our students get to choose between several activities offered throughout the week. The goal of this Close-Up series is to thoroughly introduce you to each activity and the partner leading it. Hopefully after reading these, you will have a better idea what awesome things our Brashear Kids get to do!

Art- Crocheting

This semester's art focus is fiber arts, specifically crocheting. Our hope has been to introduce fiber arts slowly by making friendship bracelets and learning the basics of weaving. Although it was difficult at the beginning, we kept on practicing, and we also added different colors until we got it! Once everyone had a firm grasp on "warps" and wefts," we began more difficult designs and projects. That's where Miss Laura came in! 

We used these cardboard looms to practice weaving
and basic crocheting skills. Once we finished the loom,
we detached the string and tied it off

Miss Laura introduces the next step
of our crocheting project

Activity Leaders: Miss Laura

Miss Laura is a local artist and teacher that started crocheting about two years ago. Personally, she thinks that crocheting is rather difficult, but she also finds it incredibly rewarding. Specifically, Miss Laura believes that the feeling of creating is very powerful. For that reason, she loves to teach children difficult skills like crocheting so that they can make their very own pieces. Even if they don't succeed in creating the exact project, they learn how to create something of their own and can also learn how to correct their mistakes. 

Thank goodness Miss Laura stays around
to help us when we have trouble!

Lessons of Crocheting

Another reason Miss Laura thinks crocheting is important for kids is the length of time it takes. According to Miss Laura, fiber arts does not bring instant gratification. This makes fiber arts even more rewarding. Because there are a lot of factors to consider and control while crocheting, we learn the best through repetition and practice. Through crocheting, our students are learning to stick with a task or goal until they create something of their own. 

Now that we have learned a little bit about crocheting, we're ready to work on a new project. This semester, we will be making little crochet pouches! Stay tuned this year while we work on them! We'll post pictures as our projects develop. Until then, we'll continue to learn from our mistakes and stick with it!