It's winter here in New England. A time when this woman's thoughts turn to knitting. Or, rather, the desire to be a knitter.Cold nights coupled with a growing maternal nesting instinct, have forced me to buy some yarn, pull out the needles, and learn how to knit. Yet again.
This impulse hits me every few years. Needless to say, yearly knitting events have not lead to great skill retention or mastery. These infrequent learning events are spaced way too far apart. I've forgotten most everything I learned the last knitting go-around.
As I was struggling to figure out once more how to purl, I thought about the spacing effect and forgetting. These two resources came to mind:
- For more on the spacing effect, be sure to read this 2006 article by Lars Hyland: Less Learning More Often.
- For more on the power of forgetting, be sure to view Will Thalheimer's The Learning Show: Don't Forget Forgetting
Luckily, I've found a great knitting book. Stitch & Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook by Debbie Stoller.From an instructional design perspective, I think it's a great resource: excellent illustrations, written in a conversational tone (as if you were sitting next to the author and she was teaching you), with lots of hipster humor.
Dan Roddy recently shared a link to a great article on tips for writing in a more conversational tone. Because the brain thinks conversation is important, it remembers the content better. Me likey.
So here's to me remembering something this time around.
And, yes, I am knitting a baby blanket (although it's not for my baby).
Photo credit: Learn to Knit by abbynormy
3 comments:
Good for you! (But what are hipster knitting phrases? ; )
I was a quilter before kids. Now I just hoard fabric and place half-finished quilts under my bed.
Your post inspires me to either (1) quilt or (2)find some Amish quilter looking to make a few bucks.
Your post also provides a good segue into a draft post I have been holding on to on how the art of blended learning and the art of quilting are similar...
I wonder if I can actually remember how to quilt...
One of the other instructional designers on my team, Natalie, has a knitting blog. You might want to check it out, plus she might have some other resource ideas for you. I think she recently found some instructional videos for the 3rd ID on our team who's trying to learn to knit.
Janet...I have similar hoards of fabric stashed all over my house, along with a few unfinished quilting projects. My grandmother taught me to sew when I was but a mere lass. I haven't forgotten those lessons, but the knitting lessons obviously didn't stick.
I'm looking forward to your post on blended quilting!
Christy...thanks for the resource tips. I was also intrigued to see what people are doing with Flickr. The image I used was from a learn to knit series. Very cool.
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