Out Crocheting: Back Soon

Denman College, the educational arm of the
National Federation of Women's Institutes
17th February 2013

The Tutors' Lounge at Denman
(Nugent Harris Room)

It’s February already and I now have TWO more courses at the WI’s Denman College under my belt - clearly I got something right last October! And all that despite having the worst EVER cold, and, of course, being a complete Denman newby to boot.

But this time, I knew how to get there, I knew where my room was, I understood the key system and the dining room and the bar. I could work the visualiser and the plasma screen and the room configuration was already laid out the way I liked it. This time I established more of a relationship with the other tutors, and sat at the tutors’ table in the dining room and retired to the tutors’ drawing room for coffee to discuss tutory things.

 

The Grandfather clock
in the Tutors' Lounge

Lesson time on the
Long Course

And of course I benefited from my teaching experience at Denman last time. My two-night Beginners session on 11th-13th February, though quite pacey in many ways, was still relaxed and laid back in most.

And there was time. Time to reflect, time to rest, time to sleep and time to chat. Denman has a wonderful environment, and one is working amongst people who are all having a marvellous time, learning something new, and having a break from their normal lives. It’s safe and secure and supportive. It was also funny, very funny at times, entertaining, thought-provoking and, in full measure, inspiring, inspirational.

 

Three sessions of three hours at this
Taster Weekend. This was the
first and smallest group I had.

The February Fair Maids

 

I returned two days later to teach at Denman’s New Wave Taster weekend - three three-hour beginners sessions with three different groups - a quite different format with its own set of challenges. In fact by the end of Saturday’s second session, my fellow tutor Louise Brooks (who was running the Make a Fascinator course across the way) and I both had taken on a kind of zombified, haunted stare by the time we emerged from our respective workshops in the teaching centre and toddled back past the cheery border full of February Fair Maids to the Denman Dining Room at the main house.
We’d recovered by Sunday morning though, and agreed that it had been huge fun and we’d do it again like a shot.


Handmade bear, made by my
mum, Julie Rankin, showing off
his Cable Crochet sweater (by me).

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In the meantime I’ve been making baby things for pregnant friends. A little jacket here and little hat there. I’ve begun a major sample of filet crochet that uses lacets, intended for submission to the Diploma panel (long neglected) and I have decided, ultimately, I might see if Denman would like it on a wall somewhere. The thought of that will keep me at it I think. I’ve also made a few flowers, and hats, gloves and necksnugglers AND, (fanfare) finally mastered crocheted cables!  Oh yes - too busy crocheting to blog!