MLC’s Craft Club had its inaugural meeting on February 15th, 2023. The purpose of the Craft Club is to try out potential kits and programs for public libraries and discuss what worked and what didn’t. For our first class, we watched “How to Work a Crochet Chain” by Edie Eckman on Creativebug. The program worked well and we discovered a few things that could be improved or adapted for future programs.
It only took 10 minutes to set up MLC’s main meeting room for the program. We used size 6 ergonomic crochet hooks and worsted-weight mini-skeins of yarn. I chose the smaller skeins of yarn because they are compact, easy to store, and less intimidating than the giant skeins. The attendees liked the smaller size; they said they appreciated the beginner-friendly supplies. Everyone got a skein of yarn and a hook. I laid these out at all the chairs so attendees could pick their seats based on which color of yarn they liked. You could purchase several of the same color yarn if you foresee an issue with multiple people wanting the same color or if you have a lot of leftover yarn.
I planned on watching the chain stitch video for the first half of the club and following it up with a lesson on doing a single crochet by the same creator on Creativebug. However, we ended up only doing the first video, as we had some novice crocheters. We were able to take our time, play the video back, and allow for more experienced attendees to help others so everyone was able to get a row of chain stitches before the end of the class. I think taking it step by step and not doing too much made for a better program: there was lots of collaboration which made things fun and cozy. I highly recommend either becoming familiar with the stitches before putting on the program or having someone knowledgeable come in to troubleshoot.
.png)
The Creativebug video was the main teaching tool that I used for our program and most of the participants found it helpful. It focuses on the presenter’s hands, which made it a lot easier to follow along and copy the movements. Videos that focus on people’s faces/fronts can be a little more difficult to follow along as you are doing their movements backward. There were a couple of lefties in the class (myself included) and the video only shows the right-handed method of crochet. It would be helpful to have a left-handed video available, like this one, so you may want to include it, too. Attendees also suggested having printouts of crochet instruction diagrams for those who learn better from seeing something on paper.
There were lots of great suggestions for adapting this program for a library or how to tie in other services with these kits as well. Making granny squares or scarves by going progressively through more difficult stitches and crochet skills would be an excellent long-range program where the patrons would have something to show off when they are done. A library could also have attendees make granny squares and then stitch them all together at the end for a library quilt. Libraries can also make a display of crochet instruction books or resources before the program; if there is a lot of interest in the program, it might help guide collection development. One area of the program that I would like to focus on for future clubs is accessibility. I didn’t think about attendees with physical disabilities that would affect their ability to participate. Having magnifying glasses or large-type instructions would make the program more accessible.
Cleaning up after the program was as quick and easy as setting it up. The participants put their yarn and crochet hooks back in a box, and since we didn’t cut any yarn, there wasn’t any mess to clean up. This was a very successful program and it fit well within an hour. I had lots of good feedback and MLC staff are excited for the next meeting!
One last thing: the Craft Club’s mascot was officially named! Mark Twine was voted in with a whopping 11 votes, followed closely by String Crosby with 8. Look how happy he is!
No comments:
Post a Comment