The student's first stitches

A knitting teacher's competition consists of things like a learn-to-knit-all-by-yourself book, a learn-to-knit-all-by-yourself web site, and YouTube. You can learn to knit all by yourself for free, courtesy of the Internet. So what value can I provide as a face-to-face alive-and-in-person knitting instructor?

I believe that one of the biggest benefits that I provide is that when a student comes to my class, they do not "start at the very beginning" (ref Julie Andrews, The Sound of Music, the beginning of the Do-Re-Me song).

Instead, I give them a pair of needles on which I have already done "Cast On 12, k 3 rows".

My first class curriculum is roughly:

• 1/2 hour - the knit stitch
• 1/2 hour - the purl stitch
• 1/2 hour - cast off / bind off
• 1/2 hour - cast on

Here are the benefits to the student:

• By doing their very first row onto stitches that I have done in advance, they learn what it feels like when those stitches are the proper size and tension.
• When they work their second row, onto stitches that they have done, they can feel the difference, and learn how to adjust accordingly.
• They feel like they are knitting like their mothers/grandmothers very quickly into the lesson.
• When they finally learn to cast on, they will realize the implications of their cast-on tension. Most beginners will cast on too tightly (even experts do that - I always cast onto two needles held as one!)

I have had a lot of success with this approach.

Thoughts?

Judy