(Alternate Title: Knitting is Useful)
One of my internship assignments it to collect 3 small objects to illustrate each letter of the alphabet (phonetically), and 20 items (4 per vowel) to illustrate short vowel words (such as cat or mug) and 16 (4 per vowel, but not e) to illustrate long vowel-silent e words (such as cake or cube). That's a total of 114 objects!
This has actually been my most fun assignment. It turns out I love collecting tiny things, and it's nice to now have a purpose to collect them! Most of the sounds are easy to illustrate. But some of them... they can be pretty tough. That's why knitting is so useful.
Q is a tough one. There's quarter, and of course I could make a tiny quilt. But then what? Quail? Quince? Oh, how about queen? But most chess queens require the buying of an entire set (or the ruining of an entire set that you already own), so that didn't seem like a great option. I saw some cute little queens for sale on etsy, and that's what made me decide I could just make one.
She has a crown and a purple cape, of course. And a pink face. That's OK, right?
I also had a lot of trouble with U. There's umbrella. Easy. And then....? Underwear. The rose was more of a fun knit. It happens to illustrate long vowel o.
And then there was X. Now for x, we were allowed to use ending sounds instead. So much easier. I had a box, a six, and then I thought fox would be great. I again searched around, but after seeing some hand made foxes I decided I could make my own.
I think he's my favorite.
Also, some of the things I own because of knitting were useful for this project. For instance, one of my Chibi needles went into the N bag. And here we have my swatch for Audrey in Unst, and a tiny skein of sock yarn from the Rockin' Sock Club.
Or as I like to call them, yarn and red.
I realized as I was taking photos that I did not have a tiny sock included in the S bag. Now, S is easy to illustrate. Get a snake, a star, and a spool and you're done. But this sock knitter needs to have a tiny sock included in the assignment.
This assignment is finished and ready for grading. It's too bad all of the remaining ones don't require much knitting.
What a clever way to do this project - I love the fox...and the queen... and the sock...:)
Posted by: stacey | March 31, 2010 at 08:54 AM
Awesome assignment and nice approach. I confess to love that little fox and the sox, er socks. Fox in socks, perhaps?
Posted by: Jenni | March 31, 2010 at 09:34 AM
Such a very cool and knitterly, crafterly solution to your assignment. My hat's off to you!
Posted by: Meredith | March 31, 2010 at 08:24 PM
All these wee tiny things: so dear, so clever!
Posted by: Allison | March 31, 2010 at 09:20 PM
The tiny fox is amazing and so cute! Very clever solutions; I'm sure you'll get a good grade.
Posted by: Brenda | April 01, 2010 at 03:44 PM
Oh, they're all so cute!! And I get to see all these and more in person--even more cuteness!
Posted by: David | April 03, 2010 at 10:29 AM
That's exactly what I love about being a knitter -- the ability to make things I need. We once had to build a trebuchet in physics class, and I knit my sling! :)
Posted by: Mildawg | April 03, 2010 at 10:01 PM
If one of my student teachers/interns had created such a magnificent project, I would have been beyond impressed!! Congratulations on completing your assignment with creativity and personality. Children love miniatures, so you score highly in my book! Best wishes in your teaching career.
:)
Posted by: Pooch | April 21, 2010 at 12:18 AM