Happy New Year to you all. 

Did you make any new year’s resolutions? I tend not to, but I have been inspired to try to learn a new skill: crocheting.

Some of you will have seen the brilliant Grab a Granny Square project started by the fabulous Ruth Swailes on Twitter. A simple idea to crochet (or knit) granny squares and turn them into blankets for those who need them.

I can’t crochet (or knit) so I thought I’d give it a go. 

I already had some wool in my resource cupboard and posted in a local craft swap group to see if someone had a hook I could borrow. They did, and they dropped it to me along with a crochet magazine. I then did some YouTube searching to find a teacher and found Bella Coco. I found her approach easy to follow and she seemed to make the process sound very simple.

That evening I sat down with everything I needed and started the video.

I mastered the slip knot, and then attempted the chain stitch. I managed to do 6 and then looked back at the video to see Coco was about 5 minutes further along and had half a square already! I paused the video. Clearly, this was not going to be straight forward after all. 

I cut off the 6 stitches, photographed them…#Proud and then watched the first few minutes of the video again. Pause, back to the start…OK, I can do this.

I did a slipknot, then began the chain stitching, and kept going. I ended up with a long row? Line? Of chain stitches, hang on, are they called chains, when lots of them are together? That would make sense.

My arm started to ache, so I stopped again and admired my work. I could instantly see that the tension was all over the place but I’d done it.

I’m going to do another 10 minutes tonight and see if I can get a more consistent tension.

Whilst I was reflecting on the process and thinking about how I can improve my technique it occurred to me quite how much concentration I had needed to even do the tiny bit of crochet I managed. There was no space for anything else in my head, at all. 

That got me thinking, is that what it’s like for children all of the time; what with the WHOLE WORLD being new!!?!?

It also led me to start listing which of the characteristics of effective learning I would have been demonstrating.

I counted 18, assuming swearing and muttering under your breath don’t count.

They are:

Playing and Exploring

Finding out and exploring: Showing particular interests

Being willing to have a go: Initiating activities, Seeking challenge, Showing a can do attitude, Taking a risk, engaging in new experiences, and learning by trial and error

Active Learning

Being involved and concentrating: Maintaining focus on the activity for a period of time, Not easily distracted

Keeping on Trying: Bouncing back after difficulties

Enjoying achieving what they set out to do: Showing satisfaction in meeting their goals, Being proud of how they accomplished something – not just the end result, Enjoying meeting challenges for their own sake rather than external rewards or praise (intrinsic motivation)

Thinking creatively and Critically 

Making links (building theories): Making links and noticing patterns in their experience

Working with Ideas (critical thinking): Planning, making decisions about how to approach a task, solve a problem and reach a goal, Checking how well their activities are going, Flexibly changing strategy as needed, Reviewing how well the approach worked

I love noticing how I learn, the ways that support the process and what happens during the process. Why not have a go at something new yourself and reflect on the ways you have learnt. I’d love to hear about some of them, do get in touch.

Characteristics of Effective Learning found at https://birthto5matters.org.uk/characteristics-of-effective-learning/