This week I visited a local third grade classroom to demo how wool becomes yarn. My quilting girlfriend teaches at the school, so it was a neat opportunity for me.
The kids were so excited to be part of the demo and to answer all the tough questions I had for them. It was an incredible experience and I loved it.
They were so adorable that I kinda want to either become a third grade teacher, or travel the country explaining to nine year old kids how to take a sheep and turn it into a sweater.
I took with me my new spinning wheel - a Schacht Matchless in cherry wood. It's a beautiful tool and I am enjoying not only using it to make yarn, but the way it looks in my house and even the smell of the new wood.
I created a little wool quiz for the kids. If you are ever planning on such a demo, let me know, I'd be glad to share the game with you. I printed it out on 3x5" index cards.
On quilting topics...my attention is shifting to the baby quilt that I'm hand quilting right now. My sister's new baby is not so new anymore. The goal is to finish it before her first birthday which is less than a month away.
Will I finish it?? Good question!
I hope those kids will know how lucky they are to learn where things come from and how. I do the same with silkworms which need constant tending by humans and point out that over the years they have lost their ability to survive in nature and how we, ourselves, are relying so much om tecnology that if we are not careful, we will become like those silkworms and we need to learn while there is still a chance.
ReplyDeleteYour spinning wheel looks beautiful; I'm not a spinner, but would gladly give this house-room, just to sit and admire it! I feel the same about some musical instruments - I would have a mountain dulcimer hanging on my wall any day they are just so lovely to look at.
ReplyDeleteI bet the 3rd graders love having you to talk to them, how great to be demonstrating something so fundamental and yet mysterious as turning wool into yarn! It's alchemy!
Children love to see spinning wheels working and are so willing to try new things out - I bet you had a great time
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