Laarnie and Reis

Here are juniors Laarnie Barcelon and Reis Masaka proudly displaying their hand-dyed, hand-knit scarfs, having made them with their homemade knitting needles that were featured earlier in the year.  

Knitting was fairly new to both kids, Laarnie having experimented a bit on her own.  But in this unit, they not only learn to knit and purl but also how to do at least different patterns that they have to stitch together into a long scarf.  

Reis took to it like a duck to water.  Laarnie struggled a bit to keep her tension even and the same number of stitches throughout her pattern, but i really liked and was inspired by her finished product.

The uneven tension and added sttiches creates waves and movement so that next year I might have the kids incorporate that into their designs.   Laarniw aslo has a sense of whimsy that she brings to all her work.  Here and below you can see her added felt butterflies, flowers and buttons, another great idea for next year!

In both scarfs you can see how lovely their hand-dyed yarns look.  We used food color to dye with to keep the kids safe.