Post Apocalyptic Life Skill

This is a couple weeks late, but the first weekend in December I got to spend the weekend with my daughter's Girl Scout troop (and their sister troop) and have a fiber weekend at camp.

We had 19 girls ranging from 9-15 at camp (in a lodge), and we taught a variety of fiber arts. Girls arrived between 7-10 Friday night. Those that arrived before 9 got to start out the weekend with dye pots.

We used tea bags and Cushing Purple dye to dye 2 pieces of wool per girl. Three rounds of 3-6 girls (15 total). Lots of excitement for the purple, especially. But they were also excited to see that tea bags could make such a pretty color too. The two blues are from cleaning out the purple out of the Cushings after rounds 2 and 3. So I got a couple of good pieces out of the deal.

Saturday morning, got the girls up and going with french toast casserole, bacon and lots of fruit. I got started with my Rug Hooking shirt, picked out especially to gain the attention of some of the older girls.

We set up 4 rotations- knitting, rug hooking, friendship bracelets, and crochet. Rug Hooking and crochet had to be opposite each other because I had a lot of wool, and our mom teaching crochet is allergic. Of course her daughter took to rug hooking quickly.

We figured knitting and rug hooking would be the most complicated, so the 4th & 5th graders started in those stations. The 5th graders started with Rug Hooking. They each picked out one of the four decorations I designed especially for them. Simple designs that can be hung on the tree, door knobs, or just on the wall if they decide to. All on linen. Each got a hook and a small Morgan hoop. Shout out to Beth Miller at Parris House Wool Works for providing hooks at cost for the troop.

I was seriously impressed by girls in each group. Most of them tried so hard. We had a couple of girls that were done before they got to Rug Hooking, but overall, it was wonderfully successful.

Girls started out hooking a square. Just simple, 5-6 loops on each side, but enough to get them pulling up loops close enough and high enough to fill in space. Then they each started their decorations.

Even after rotations, and girls had the opportunity to go outside, some girls opted to stick around and continue working on their projects. Some were working on it after dinner, around S'mores and until lights out. A couple came close to finishing before the weekend was over.

Lots of fun. Lots of teaching--- by the way, a shout out to ALL teachers. 4 hours of teaching that day kicked my butt. So tired. But so rewarding! I hope the girls keep it up. I won't see them again till January, but will ask how projects are. Hopefully I'll have some updates to come.