Knitting-Week 5

I didn't have a lot of time to work on my knitting this week, but I attended a class Saturday to start my scarf. This week was more successful than last, since I was able to see my mistake and start over from last week. I really want to learn how to knit the cable stitch for my scarf, but I learned in order to do that I need to perfect my purling. So, the kind people in my class got me started on a new hat. (Between my hats and scarf, I'm going to have a warm winter!) The rim of the hat will be purled and then I will use th basic stitch to finish it. I feel confident in my basic stitch so I think after I get the rim done, the rest of the hat will go smoothly.

As I have perfected my basic stitch, I felt very comfortable as I was repeating my stitches. I thought for sure that I could learn the new stitches just as easily and I would have to do another project beside my scarf because I thought I would finish it quickly. From my frustration last week, I've learned that because I was comfortable just doing what I knew I wasn't stretching my thinking and my learning. As I made my mistakes and learned how to correct them, I am finding that I am expanding my zone of proximal development and this is where the learning is happening. As I struggle with this new hat I need to make in order to be better at purling, I am learning. I see this a lot with the students I teach where in order for them to learn, they need to step out of their comfort level of learning and thinking and sometimes they need to make mistakes. I understand this theory in learning, but I sometimes have a difficult time relating things to my own life experiences, so it has been interesting for me to see this happening in my own learning. 

This week, I will finish my hat and hopefully start learning the cable stitch.