Project "What is useful about knitting?"
проект по иностранному языку

What is useful about knitting?

             I like doing something with my hands, especially knitting. In spite of the fact that knitting is a meticulous work, I think it`s very interesting. That`s why the theme of my project is «Knitting is a fascinating hobby». I have been knitting for eight years and I adore it. I joined the knitting club just to try it and I didn`t think it was interesting. But then I liked it.

             The history of knitting is complex and rich. Who and when invented knitting nobody knows but it originated before our CE. There are ideas that knitting began in the Middle East, from there came to Europe through Mediterranean trade routes and then to the Americas from Europe. The oldest knitted artifacts are children`s socks from Egypt. At the beginning of our era the techniques and principles of knitting were on a very high level. For example, somewhere in Cairo archaeologists found a superior multicolor knitted silk dress. Many years ago people used silk, wool for knitting and the Chinese used even camel hair. The fact that knitting appeared long ago confirm history paintings such as «The Virgin Mary»
by Bertran von Minden, «The Knitting Girl» by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, the sketch of a shepherd knitting, while watching his flock.

            Originally, knitting was men`s craft only. And only when it was widely spread it became more and more popular among women. Mainly, people knitted clothes because it was comfortable and warm. That`s why during the Second World War, American wartime government department, started action for people to make knitted items for the Army and Navy to wear in winter.

             With the beginning of the 21st century knitting starts to be popular again. The reason for this popularity is "Handmade Revolution", namely ease of finding information on the Internet and buying items for knitting. The teacher of our knitting club finds wonderful ideas on the Internet and we make them come true together. We knit beautiful and modern things like dresses, bags, laces, leg warmers, gloves and a lot of other things. I participated in various competitions and exhibitions. I won III prize in "Applause-2016" and the first prize in "Applause-2017". Now I can knit almost everything and I must say, it`s not difficult to knit when you can do it. You need only a knitting pattern. But some techniques are still difficult for me, for example an Irish lace.

             To get to know other people`s opinion about knitting we`ve carried out a survey among 11-15- year-old children. We asked 88 pupils of our school 8 questions. The questions were:

1. Have you got a hobby?

2. Would you like to do knitting?

3. Is knitting popular nowadays?

4. What personal qualities does knitting develop?

5. Can knitting skills be useful?

6. Do you like wearing knitted clothes?

7. Do you like knitted toys?

8. Is it difficult to knit?

The following pie charts show teenagers` answers to our survey. It can be seen that over three quarters (81%) of the respondents have hobbies. Only 9% of the girls and one of the boys do knitting. 5% of the girls did knitting. 9% of the girls and only 2% of the boys would like to do knitting. Over half said that knitting is popular among grown-ups and elderly people. Nearly two-thirds (64%) consider that knitting is difficult. Over three-quarters (82%) of the respondents think that knitting skills can be useful nowadays. The majority (63%) of the pupils like wearing knitted clothes. Half of the respondents (50%) like knitted toys. Most of the respondents think that knitting develops such personal qualities as tolerance, calmness, neatness, consistency.

             We can conclude that people like knitted clothes and knitted toys. At the same time knitting is not popular among teenagers because it is considered to be a hobby for grown-ups and elderly people, difficult but useful. But still some young people do knitting with pleasure. I go to the knitting club twice a week. There are 20 young people in my group at the age of 9 – 18. Our group is not the only one.

             Knitting is not just a time - filler for me. It has calming effects and is a great stress release hobby. I always try to end my day doing something calming and creative like knitting or painting. So, knitting is relaxing, develops creativity and knitted things are unique. Do knitting!