Teaching Knitting At Sea

Skip and I got ourselves to Miami in plenty of time to board the luxury cruise ship, the Crystal Serenity. All staterooms on the ship are exterior ones with either a window or a balcony. The greatest part of our stateroom was the bathroom.

Two sinks! And granite countertops!

A bathtub!

 

Our comfy stateroom.

I set up my office on the vanity. It had been suggested that I bring a printer so as to not impose on the staff on the ship. It proved to be very handy when I needed to find patterns for the various levels of my knitters, print display cards, print invitations to the show, etc.

Of the 14 days, there were 6 days at sea. I taught a 45 minute knitting class on 5 of them.

Here, I'm teaching the long-tail cast-on.

 Janet, third from left in blue, worked on one of the kits she purchased - a mohair shawl.

My classroom was one of the restaurants with  a wonderful view of the Caribbean Sea. However, my students were concentrating on their tasks.

Josephine worked on a cotton dishcloth pattern while her daughter, Judy, to her right, learned to knit as a left-hander.

Jonathan worked diligently reinforced by Guinness.

At my second class, Jonathan brought his son, James (centre), who was not going to be outdone by his father. Then on the fourth class, James' mother, Cheryl, arrived with Annick and Kate - all beginning knitters.

Janet needed help with mohair management as her shawl required two strands of the yarn. Pulling from the outside and inside of the ball proved to create a tangled mess.

I sent Skip, my helper, to the stateroom to fetch the ball winder I had packed. I split the skein so Janet could knit from the outsides of both balls of mohair. Problem solved.

My students were delightful. In addition to these folks pictured at only one of my classes, I taught several children and adults to knit. Some experienced knitters also joined us to take a look at the kits that were available for purchase. Some purchased kits and went off on their own to knit while others came and knit their kits with us.

The last at sea day was our 'show' where the art teacher and I put our students' work on display.

I mostly had swatches to show

but also had Josephine's two completed projects and Janet's partially completed mohair shawl to show off.

The other 8 days we stopped at islands, Skip and I were free to operate like the other guests on the ship. My next post will highlight the ports we visited.