Teen Knitting Club

TeenKnitter · 04-17-2007, 12:31 PM

Hey there everyone, I'm starting a teen knitting club at my library. The first meeting is scheduled to be in a little over a week. I'm not expecting a huge turn-out, but I have high hopes for it. :D
I know that it is customary to just hang-out at these meeting, but I was wondering if any of you had any ideas for a knitting-related icebreaker game? I want to do something fun and original for the first meeting, make it easier for people to get to know each other. Any ideas are appreciated!

Thanks!

marykz · 04-17-2007, 05:46 PM

I saw a "guess the yarn type" game in a magazine.... you line up swatches from a bunch of different yarns (cotton, wool, acrylic, Mmmmmmmalabrigio? etc) and have everyone pet them and try to guess what they are. The article I saw got quite technical and had people trying to guess manufacturer etc, but you could make it pretty basic depending on the yarn knowledge of your group.

Or make a variation of pick up sticks with old knitting needles.... (try to pick up one stick from the bunch without knocking the pile over)

I'll keep thinking! MKZ

debinoz · 04-17-2007, 06:15 PM

Name That Stitch!

You take pictures (I got mine from the net) and glue them to a poster board. #'d from 1-?. Each player gets a sheet of paper #'d the same.
Some of the stitches are harder to identify, so I put in "cheats", the correct # of dashes for the stitch name.... and filled in a couple of letters, usually vowels.

Did that make sense??

Whatever you do, I hope you have a blast!

TeenKnitter · 04-17-2007, 06:21 PM

Thanks for the ideas guys! Unfortunately, alot of the people coming aren't very experienced, so they won't be familiar with differing types of yarn and stitches. BUT, I will keep those in mind for later meetings!

luv2knit · 04-17-2007, 06:31 PM

I found a couple of books from my library that were about having a teen knitting club.

This is one I can remember off hand...

Teen knitting club : chill out and knit / Jennifer Wenger, Carol Abrams, Maureen Lashe

Another was:
Not another teen knitting book / Vickie Howell ; photography by Jody Horton.

I also like the Knit Girrl books, they have some idea for kids and teens. They might have some ideas for your club with activities???

I also saw at my craft store they had some booklets in the knitting area on starting knitting clubs, not sure what age they were geared to but you try that.

I hope you have lots of success with your group!

TeenKnitter · 04-17-2007, 07:12 PM

luv2knit: I actually have all the books you mentioned, lol. I'll have to look through them again for ideas.

cds11 · 04-17-2007, 07:15 PM

Maybe you could do one of those games (if you've done it before) where everyone has to say their name, and then maybe why they like knitting or something, along with the name and why the people before them like knitting.... So you'd have everyone in a circle, have one person start out and say "My name is so and so and I like knitting because ___" and then the next person would go "My name is <insert their name here> and I like knitting because ___, and that's soso and so and they like knitting because ___". So then everyone's name is repeated over and over again... the only problem is when you have a large group it's difficult for the last person... And you don't have to do they why they like knitting, it could be anything, but since it's a knitting club you might want to keep it knitting related... (I've done this before with different actions, and I don't remember what else...)

I hope that made sense...

BostonBecca · 04-18-2007, 02:21 AM

Have everyone bring their favorite yarn or FO and everyone has to stand up and present either their yarn or their FO (just show it) and everyone has to guess what either the FO is made out of or what the yarn is if you have them bring their favorite object and say something they like about the FO. Then everyone stands up and says what it actually is or what it is made out of. That way you learn about the people and about other projects and yarns.

dakatzmeow · 04-18-2007, 02:58 PM

how about a version of the circle game:

hi, my name is ____.
my favorite yarn is:
or.....i don't know how to knit but i want to make_____.
i've been knitting for ____ years/months/days.

or
hi, my name is lori and what i love most about knitting is (insert something that starts with first letter of their name). in my case, i love the 'L'uscious yarns.

you could compile a list of online resources for them to take home, including KH, of course for Amy's wonderful video demos.

by having the online videos/tutorials available, you can reinforce any teaching you do with them.

Nobones · 04-18-2007, 10:49 PM

I want to go! I'm 28 and live in South Wales but this 'Teen knit club' sounds great. I wish there was somewhere I could go to knit with other people. Sadly haven't managed to persuade my hubby to pick up sticks yet!

The stitch n bitch books are good but maybe using the word 'bitch' shouldn't be used around teenagers?