Project Linus 2013

This year we modified our knitting unit a couple of ways. first, we had the students handcraft their knitting needles out of wooden dowels as opposed to having them purchase needles. This was a little risky, I'll admit, but a way for us to keep cost down for the students and also teach them some resourcefulness. I would say that in the end, 80% completed their knitting project using their hand made needles while the other 20 ended up purchasing their own needles. I think making needles is worth it and there are ways to improve the overall quality of the needle that would decrease the percentage of needle buyers next year.
In addition to making needles which took one class period, we also spent only two weeks on knitting as opposed to 4 weeks. One week out of the two-week period was a minimum day week, too so we spent at least 50% less time on task in class producing blankets than we did last year. However, during the two week period our focus was directly on problem solving and knitting mastery. We taught and retaught how to solve increases and decreases, made students rip out knitting that had holes, and would only measure, thus give credit for knitting that demonstrated mastery.Once students finished their knitting projects they wove their strip into a blanket.
So with handcrafting needles, using limited time and requiring students know how to problem solve for high quality knitting we knitted less blankets but the students are much more knowledgeable knitters and more likely to knit successfully on their own in the future.