...and all I could bring you were these cupcakes
Done and dusted. The first Crochet and Cupcake worshop, that is. I take it as a measure of success that we all learned something (including myself) and that at the end of the course everyone had at least the basics of crochet. Oh and i was EXHAUSTED and could hardly string a sentence together for the rest of the weekend. I was soooo nervous beforehand (as Joanne from Not So Granny can confirm by a trail of anxious tweets and emails) and I am just thrilled it went so well.
What went well:
- The cupcakes were AMAZING. Julia from MaryGrace Cakes is a dear friend and amazing baker. You may remember her garbage truck cake from Ellis' birthday last year. She is simply fabulous and between workshops and the kids' birthdays, she is baking for me every other weekend for the next 2 months!
- I started the learners out with some pre-started squares (chain of 11 and 2 rows of 9 single crochet) to practice stitches into. I thought this worked well to get the hang of stitching and holding the yarn and hook, rather than having to get through the pain that is stitching into a chain on top of all that.
What I would do differently:
- At least look at my lesson plan once as I go through (ahem) as it would have definitely helped keep me on track.
- I am planning on rethinking the course structure a bit and offering an intermediate course as there is so much to learn, going away for a bit and practicing before moving forward would help.
- Invest in an ENORMOUS hook and yarn for demonstrations (thanks for the tip, Tantie!)
- 6 people max.
And while I only managed to snap some photos of said cupcakes, Nikkii got some of the workshop in action.
More workshops are scheduled, so you too can have a cupcake of your own...if I don't get there first.