I’ve been puttering with the content for next week’s YouTube video for two and a half months and it’s still not written though I have a file full of notes and visuals.
I have a ton of experience with the subject but I wrestle with the same things for every script. How do I structure this program so that it is . . .
1) engaging?
2) the “right” amount of information? (I could go on for hours about it)
3) organized?
4) uses the medium of YouTube in a way that fits how knitters use it?
Because I think most of my programs don’t fit how most people use YouTube. And I’m trying figure out if that’s a problem. And if it is, am I willing to change my approach?
Maybe yes. Maybe no.
I started working with video in 1966 when I studied it at the University of Michigan and early on (1988) I recognized that it was an excellent medium for teaching knitting. That’s when I hired a professional producer and made my first 3 programs (on the BOND knitting frame) that were distributed in the US, UK, and Canada. But they were complete, long-form classes.
Then along came YouTube. It’s only a little over 10-years-old and it has been a game-changer.
- The process of knitting hasn’t changed
- Good video production value hasn’t changed
- How people learn hasn’t changed
- How people access information has changed.
My educator self is trying to figure out the best way to use this tool and so far I think . . .
- Most people (including me) go to YouTube to see a single skill DEMONSTRATED, a skill they need at that moment. Heck, I have to consult my own videos on things I don’t use often like a tubular bind-off.
- Some people (a far fewer number) go to YouTube to take a class or to understand a complete concept.
- Too many choices (of bind-offs, for example) can be overwhelming and even paralyzing. (Watch Barry Schwartz’s TED talk on too much choice)
- To demonstrate something is easy. To teach something is hard.
- I tend to teach rather than demonstrate.
- Do I need to demonstrate more on YouTube and use a different medium to teach concepts and full classes?
Please share your insights below. Any old thing that pops into your head about how you use YouTube in general. Not just my videos. How you use it to fix a faucet, for example. What helps you? Frustrates you? Do you use it differently for different subjects . . . like sometimes to learn how to make a sweater and sometimes you just want to remember how to do a provisional cast on? How/what did you learn before YouTube?
Of course by the time I get this figured out it will probably have changed. That’s OK. That’s what keeps us young(ish) right?
Firstly, please forgive me for taking so long to reply to your request. Life …, events …, you know what it’s like. I use YT for funny videos of cats, TED talks and, of course, for craft techniques. I have found your videos extremely useful and accessible. You explain in a clear and thoughtful way and make sure that the viewer can always see what you are doing. Oh how many YT videos wobble away from the action just at the crucial moment! I find your commentary helpful, you have obviously planned what you want to say to accompany the demonstration. As an (almost) ex-teacher I appreciate the professionalism you have brought to your work.
I like many of the ideas that other contributors have submitted, especially about systems for making topics quick and easy to find. Has a stitch encyclopaedia been suggested yet? I seem to spend ages floundering around if I’m looking for a particular stitch. I also concur with those who have enjoyed the extra information you give on the nuts and bolts of knitting and how it works. Many thanks for your good work. I look forward to referring to your videos (again) often.
Thank you Diana. Although they are easy videos to shoot, I doubt I would do a stitch encyclopedia because there are so many of them out there already. You might try finding a site that specializes in stitch patterns and then using the search engines on that site. Of course, the names of stitch patterns are not always consistent. 🙂
Hi Cheryl
First I want to say I love your teaching style, I love knowing the ins & outs of knitting. I want to know when to use a particular knitting method, why you use it and what happens if you don’t use it all of which you explain in you videos. But there are times when for eg. I can’t remember how to do a left leaning decrease on a purl side and can’t find which video you cover this in. So I went on to you tube & typed in left leaning decrease & your video was on page 1. Next I looked for mattress stitch & your video didn’t come up until page 7 (how to knit a sweater part 9, sew the seams) . next I looked up knitting ribs and it wasn’t until page 12 that your video came up (first bond sweater special cast on & neck rib). Lace knitting your video was on page 8. So really what I am trying to say is I know you have covered most knitting terms in your videos, but when you uploaded them to you tube did you add tags to ALL the terms you cover in each video. When you uploaded How to knit a sweater part 9 did you add the tag mattress stitch to it. I think by going through all you videos and adding tags for all the things you cover in each video it will help to find your videos faster and bring a bigger audience to your videos. Hope this help Cheryl and thanks for sharing all your knitting knowledge with so many people.
Thank you for taking the time to test these and give me feedback Ann. I have not been particularly strategic in developing a “YouTube Channel.” I just sort of wanted to try it out to see if it worked for me and others. I think what you suggest about tags is an important and great idea.
I also need things like annotations and cards. I still substitute teach at the local alternative public school program and there is a young man who has been wanting to “help me” with my YT channel for several years because he’s interested in learning. He’s a nerdy delight of a human. I talked to his teacher consultant last week and she’s going to see if he wants to be a paid intern for me to do these types of jobs. He doesn’t know much about knitting, though he did go to a Waldorf school for primary, but I’m thinking I could teach him to do some of this nuts and bolts stuff. He and his best friend (another delightful nerdy teenage) have a YT channel and they’d like to grow it.
I use Youtube in all sorts of different ways but first and foremost as source of information. I find your instruction videos both informative and interesting. I like that it\s not only “how to” but also some examples of how certain technique can be used in different projects. Your videos on Bond got me started on my knitting machine, which I am very grateful for.
Last but not least I like your encouraging us to be brave with our knitting. It’s empowering and made me more courageous with trying out new stuff.
Keep up the good work Cheryl!
I think that what makes your YouTube videos unique is the way in which you empower me by showing me the mechanics of knitting. Is a stitch wider or taller? How do the stitches interlock? How can you cut and reattach rows of knitting? How, when, where, and why do you decrease or increase? How is a sweater constructed? What if I want a v-neck or waist shaping? How is a mitten or sock constructed? As you say fairly often, this knowledge gives me freedom. Thanks, and keep up the great work.
I haven’t the time to read all the comments here but wanted to add my two cents worth knowing that my opinions might not be original. So far I have only gone to YouTube for knitting instruction.
– I need a video to stay on topic: Do not show the wrong way to do something or tell me about all the mistakes you’ve seen. If there are alternate ways of doing a stitch, maybe mention them at the end of your presentation and offer a link to those instructions.
– Please don’t leave anything out. I am not experienced enough to know even the simplest steps before you get to the difficult part of your instructions.
– Use yarn and needles that best show what you are doing.
– Repeat the instructions several times.
I have a small mitered square blanket project in progress. I looked at several YouTube videos and yours was by far the best. I especially liked that you did a ‘part 2’ and taught a lesson on the math involved in planning a mitered square project.
I was first attracted to your site because you were one on one with me.
I am a visual learner. I like step by step instruction.
I would like a lesson from the very beginning. How do you measure your arm length or body length, arm size, etc…
I thought your teaching was right on. I sooo look forward to our first prodject
Hi Kristen. I’m guessing that you’re referring to my “How to Make a Sweater” video series on YouTube, right? The information on how to make simple sweaters from your measurements (and how to take them) and create sweaters from them is all in Sweater 101. I made the video series so that people could decide if they like my method and want to pursue other sizes.
Hi Cheryl . . .
Trust me! I’m a tough audience! Your style and presentation are so refreshing! I love your videos? I can’t describe why – never thought about it. Maybe you are the great knitting friend right in my living room? Keep being who you are. You are gifted at teaching and you might be overthinking this. LOVE your videos and have been watching greedily for more!
Blessings!
Carol
Carol . . . thank you. I was not fishing for compliments, really, though you are very kind and I appreciate your appreciation. Not everyone on YouTube is as kind (commenters). Mostly I’m trying to figure out how to make the work sustainable for me. I’m still subsidizing it by putting in many hours for shockingly little compensation and living on my modest Social Security and book sales. At least now I don’t have to pay rent for a studio. That has been a wonderful gift. I’m looking at different ways to earn money without selling out to irrelevant and distracting advertising that plagues most websites, most of which just aggregate creators’ work. They add nothing to the wealth of human learning. Interesting the choices we make and how they shape us.
I don’t know how you do it but you are doing it right! Lots of crafting videos out there but I find most of them to be frustrating for various reasons. Keep up the good work!
Thank you Cheezfri. This is a kind comment.
I haven’t read the previous comments, just in order to spout my own thoughts beforehand.
My very favourite videos – yarn-related, of course – are those where the demonstrator DEMONSTRATES and doesn’t say anything. AND demonstrates using oversized hooks/needles/thread/yarn. Plain background. No distracting background sounds (children running by, doors slamming, lawnmowers blasting). I want to SEE what it is that I’m looking for, and I want to see it NOW. If I wanted to take my time, I’d dig out a book – Lord knows I have just about all of ’em – and look it up. When I do look for some technique on YouTube, the volume is muted on my computer before I begin looking. If I can’t see what’s going on, I look for another video.
Before YouTube, I learned from those books. However, some things just don’t transfer well from text to some brains. Despite reading how to do a crochet hook cast on (provisional or not) in multiple books – with and without illustrations, it never entered my brain, until I saw an early YouTube video. I played and replayed that video innumerable times before something ‘clicked’ in my brain. Gee! Did I ever feel like a dunce! As a crocheter, I already knew how to work around a ring; yet I couldn’t grasp how to work around a straight needle, until I’d SEEN it in action.
Classes … I’ve signed up for a few free ones on Craftsy, but have yet to ‘do’ them. Some of the others in our knitting group – only formed thanks to the Internet – love Craftsy classes.
Bethintx1 made a series of videos – in which she has the infinite patience to repeat, repeat, reinforce, and repeat again – how to make a crocheted ‘entrelac’ blanket. THAT series is golden … for me. I knew how to do afghan stitch. I had bought a pillow cover made that way, but I’d been unable to figure out how to replicate it! With that series of videos, all was made crystal clear.
I have run on, but you asked, and I answered. I wish you luck.
Before the books, I learned the very basics –
When I found some of the videos demonstrating knitting and crocheting I realized there really was a reason for U-Tube to exist! I could improve my knitting and crochet skills. I subscribed to your channel as I liked your overall presentation. Relatively short presentations packed with information and a good demonstration. What I have not found is a discussion of the relative merits of knitting English style (holding the yarn in your right hand) or Continental style (holding the yarn in the left hand). Another topic I’ve not seen is a discussion of wrapping over or under and the way the resulting new stitch sits on the needle and the way you approach bringing in your needle to make a new stitch depending upon which way you previously wrapped the stitch you are now approaching which may result in a smooth stockinette stitch or a twisted stitch thereby changing your tension. I know that the person who taught me to knit left me clueless about all of this. I hope I’ve not run on too long…
Not at all Hazel. And thanks.
Thank you all for these thoughtful and smart comments. You are pretty much confirming what I had already guessed and you have some excellent suggestions. I was also delighted to see so many educators chime in. It’s interesting to have lived through 50 years of teaching (the first several, while I was in college, as a summer recreation program counselor/”Arts and Crafts Lady”) and to observe the changes in delivery media. Even more interesting is to observe how those media have shaped our expectations and styles of learning.
I took off for college 50 years ago with a 20-year-old reconditioned standard Royal typewriter and chose to major in English. That meant writing 4-, 10-, 12-, sometimes 40-page papers (typed) that had to be constructed and edited before I started typing. It was a very different process from writing with a laptop word processing program.
Fun to have seen so much. And thanks again.
Anything that you post on utube I watch…and most of the time I have to watch it over and over to make sure I understand it…Getting old is the pitts, but I rely on your videos to show me what I need to know..and I know it is a lot on you but I really enjoy when you have a knit along…Most of the times I make my own cds of what you post so I can carry them with me where ever I go…they have been a blessing when I am in the hospital, my small dvd player sits better on that bed table than my laptop…You know I am a visual person..have to see it done before I can get it right..and I really appreciate ALL that you do for me!!!
Hey Cheryl. First of all, I bought your Sweater 101 book and it has helped me immensely! Thank you! Second, Youtube is great for all types of learners. Some want a quick soundbite/lesson, others want the full explanation. I have posted a few videos for my daughters (singers) and I have discovered that when you put in a timestamp of the beginning of a section (in the description box), a viewer can click on the timestamp and the video advances directly to that spot. So if you enter in the description “0:15 explanation of weights” and “3:25 demo of M1 increase,” the viewer can click on the timestamp and go right to that section. This is really helpful when someone wants to return to a specific teaching on your video. With that said, I say make your videos as long and as specific as you want!!! If you put the timestamps in the description area it will give the viewers ability to maneuver around when and where they need to be! Thanks for all you do!
You are correct that there is a difference between demonstrating and teaching. I believe most people come to YT for a demonstration of a technique and not for a teaching lesson. There is value for both, but each in its place.
I often watch YT with the sound off. That is an excellent way to learn if it shows a technique or is giving a history lesson about the technique. Most are so amateurish as to be unwatchable! Why would anyone even post it if it was technically a flop? You CAN re-do them, you know!
I recognize the educator in you and your videos. They are very well done, and well organized. Some YT vids are quite long, so you could do a teaching lesson on there. Or you can do short demonstrations, pointing to a longer teaching lesson in another video. I believe there is an audience for both.
Cheryl, I go to YT to learn a stitch or other procedure. I usually look at several YT versions and then choose the one that works for me. If it is one of your YT I use it because you speak clearly, explain well and demonstrate what you are doing and, very important, the video camera remains steady!! In regard to teaching rather than showing, these may be two different sessions. For instance, It would be nice to get an overview of sweater-making and then smaller bite-size sessions on parts of the sweater. Your Sweater 101 is very useful by the way.
Dear Cheryl—I’ve just read through most of the comments about how people use You Tube.
I first found your videos a few years ago somehow looking around for something—probably about machine knitting. It seemed so clear and easy that I bought a Bond machine on ebay, but to this day, I haven’t used it yet. I guess I prefer sitting in an easy chair and not moving for hours. I’ll probably get to the machine eventually—it’s fascinating.
I’ve been knitting a long time also since my mother taught me as a child. Lately I’ve been knitting without a pattern—sometimes it’s successful and sometimes not so much. I’m currently doing a VERA cardigan Knit Along on Ravelry—it’s my first one. It’s really fun. However, I’m only sort of relying on the pattern for the general design—so we’ll see. I even mentioned to the other knitters on the Knit Along to check out your videos.
I just ordered the yarn on ebay for my next project and this time I want to stick strictly to the pattern. It’s the Brioche Vest pattern from Purl Soho and it’s available on Ravelry. I’d love to do a Knit Along for that sweater. A Knit Along for a top down sweater with set in sleeves also sounds good.
This may sound silly but when I watched your videos years ago—I think it was one of the Bond videos—I noticed that you were sitting in front of a window. Behind you there was a tempest of unbelievable proportions. And it kept getting stronger. The wind was blowing—I thought the trees were about to be uprooted. It was fascinating.
I think it would be great if you put your videos in a context of your community—so we could see things like weather. You mentioned you might substitute at a school, you’ve mentioned yarn shops you go to, and so forth. I’m reminded of a TV show called “Fresh with Anna Olson.” It’s filmed in Canada. Anna Olson is a great chef and puts all her menus in a context—one time she’s taking the food to a baby shower, another time a charity event, another time a faculty meeting at her husband’s department, etc. She also shows us different places in her neighborhood where she purchases her ingredients: farms, shops, wineries, and so forth.
It’s obvious from the comments that we all value your teaching. Whatever way you do the videos will be great. I like to refer to the videos where you make the blue sweater with the collar and the three-button buttonband and show every part of it in many separate videos and in unbelievable detail. Thanks so much. P.S. I am a teacher in adult education too, living in New York.
Yes, I use YT for instruction and reference.
Some ideas:
* dedicate one video to one topic and cover every way that topic can be executed. (for example…Topic…Cast Ons. Subtopics..elastic, non elastic, invisible, provisional, etc. and pros and cons of each and best times to use each. Then have each subtopic visibly marked so that subtopic can be directly accessed.
* on your web site/blog list each Topic alphabetically (for example…Armsyce, Cast Ons, Stitch Designs, etc. with a link directly to that topic and subtopic. Along with a bulleted list of the topics and subtopics, the pros, cons, and when to use them.
* start with the basics. (For example… Cast ons, ribs, selveges, increasing, decreasing, etc.) You already have many of these now. Could just reorganize them. Once you cover enough of these, you could provide a pattern for a scarf. Then a hat, mittens. Later a vest, then a sweater, etc.
* you could have two main categories: first week of the month…Theory…taking measurements (body for clothing, hands for gloves/mittens, feet, etc.) Modifying patterns. Choosing yarn. Types of needles. How to block,etc. The third week of the month…second topic…Hands On…here is where you demonstrate the knitting techniques mentioned above.
* one tip: I see others making the mistake of non-essential talk. it’s not a good sign. I appreciate the long silent pauses where I can digest the info given and just watch the technique being performed after the instruction.
I use You-tube for whatever is called for. Sometimes it is a class, sometimes just a quick demonstration. I’ve never turned away from one of your videos. It just depends what the person is looking for. If someone wants to learn to knit then a quick demonstration won’t work but if you just want to try a new bind off then that is exactly what you want. There is no “RIGHT” or “WRONG” way.
Luckily, before YouTube I could just ask my mom which was the best of both worlds as she could sit and teach or sit and demonstrate.
I don’t see that you can go wrong with either way. I would venture to say do a longer, teaching video and then a shorter demonstration video for the same thing. That way you have newbies and oldies covered.
I was Gemini, now I’m Taurus. Or so they say. I’ll have to look up your letters.
My current knitting problem: How to knit two at a time with less tangling and work backwards without turning for heels when working in the Portuguese style. Told you I’m strange. 😀
Like most, I use YouTube all the time to learn specific stitches. Recently I came across a woman who uses no sound. You are dependent on watching what she does as well as trying to read the instructions… all while knitting your own sample at the same time. So difficult. The videos I’ve seen from you are worlds apart. I’ve enjoyed them immensely and now that I am reading all these posts and realize you have quite a library of videos to draw from, I’d love a list of all your YouTube postings. I’m like the woman who commented that time doesn’t matter. I could sit for hours watching a detailed instruction if it was giving me the info I needed. I also love the idea of a knit-along. I truly appreciate all the time you put into your thoughtful and instructive videos and feel badly that your time isn’t compensated as much as you deserve.
I totally agree with Sarah. I learn the best by watching and doing at the same time. I love the videos you have done because you do take things step by step and there is not distraction in the background. My only wish is that you would have more bond videos. I have been trying to make a v-neck sweater and have not been able to accomplish this. I would also like to learn how to make different style sleeves. I do not hand knit but love my bond. It is very hard to find up to date bond patterns anymore so if you know of any please let me know.
Keep up the awesome work you do.
Pam
I generally use YouTube in this fashion when learning something:
1. General search for topic (pruning fig trees, knitting machine use, etc.), and then fine-tune after I see the options.
2. When learning to use non-USM/ISM knitting machines, I spent hours just watching as many videos as possible, to learn the terminology, how to use equipment, what was included (ideally!) in the machines, how to clean them. I usually knitted by hand while watching these, LOL. I have had and used the Bond machines since 1986, so those were not included.
3. When I wanted to start on the KM, I narrowed the search to specific projects (swirl baby blanket, hat, socks) on my specific machines, and watched these for a bit before starting the project, in order to get the hang of the process.
4. If I am impressed by the teacher’s methods, I usually buy the DVD or book or perhaps patterns when I can afford them, and incorporate these into my “class” routine.
5. I learn and retain information best by listening and doing simultaneously. My only problem with YT videos is the ability to pause at a specific site in the video, as my internet connection is not great and I usually overshoot the spot! I love the idea of tying in links to more in-depth explanations of how to do short rows, inc/dec, etc.
6. Show the complete project or part at the beginning please, and if there are variations that you have done with pattern stitches, tuck, Fair Isle, yarn size differences, I always enjoy seeing the differences in these at the end, along with the specific gauge numbers.
7. Thanks for your wonderful classes and books! I hope your studio is warm and full of light and wish you tons of inspiration (hmm, does it come in tons?).
If I forgot how to do a stitch or technique I use YouTube to find a short video to refresh my aging memory. I also like to learn completely new patterns and video along with a written pattern helps me get it and not make mistakes and results in fewer frogging sessions. Even with simple patterns I like to have a video demonstrating it. I am a visual learner, but can follow a written pattern. A diagram type pattern with just the symbols is so much easier for me to follow as my mind can see the stitches. Just word patterns are confusing sometimes I would love some full video classes on different knitting techniques. I am trying to learn the Portuguese style and for some things there is a serious lack of resources. I knit continental mostly. However, for colorwork the Portuguese style has its advantages. I think of a mix of teaching and demonstrations would be nice. As well as short technique clips and full video classes. As well as knit along videos. I watch those a lot or crochet along ones. I watch Crochet Crowd a lot. I loved all your Bond videos and they really helped.
i use it to ser how things are done even though many videos are short i tend to fast forward to the end. i find it a bot frustrating and boring when i dontt get to see a finished result of the thing thats supposed to be made. beside your videos i like crafty gemini and the drops knotting instruction videos a lot!
I used your video on the Bond repeatedly until I figured out how to use the Bond, AND I still reference it. I have to read something to understand how it is to be done, BUT I have to see it in action to really get it. Most people are visual learners (says the learning/teaching research– I wrote a book on teaching adults) however, each person still has their own learning method. I would probably favor both the teaching and the demonstration – but I also have to see something in print too – just the way my brain works. At 65, too many years of learning this way to try to fight a process that works! I loved and still love your videos–the Bond would have been a big waste if I hadn’t found your videos on how to use it. Thanks again!
Quick side note, in Sarah’s comment I think “fx” is “For Example”, at least that’s how it reads to me.
I’ve never used youtube for entertainment, I prefer to think of it as a research tool. I tend to head there when I want to look up something that makes more sense as a video than in text. I’ve been teaching myself to knit for the past couple of years, and apart from 2 short courses from Craft University Everything I’ve learned has come from books and website articles backed up by youtube. Anything I don’t understand in a pattern I’ll google if I just need to know what an abbreviation is I’ve not seen before. But if it’s a skill I head straight to youtube.
I’m probably odd in that I don’t think there’s any such thing as too much information. If I’m wanting to see a specific skill, I prefer the short demonstration videos so I’m not having to wade through a load of other information I don’t need. However if I’m wanting a more general subject, like methods of casting on, I want to see EVERYTHING, then I can pick and choose what I like/don’t like and what is going to suit whatever it is I’m attempting to make that week.
The way I see it, both long and short videos have a place, and the benefit of the longer tutorial videos, you can pause, rewind and even give up and come back to it later, so they’re only as long as you want to make them.
One thing I do like that I’ve seen some people do with longer videos, they index them and put the index in the description box with links that take you directly to that time stamp in the video.
Hi Cheryl.
Your videos are perfect to me, you bring a special quality that I don’t get in other long how to knit videos. And the quality is you, it’s your personality which makes me feel – I can do this, I get excited, I think – ohhhh that’s clever, so that’s how it’s done. And very important – you tell me the nature of knitting – what are the consequences if I do this, and this. And you just seem so nice, kind and funny in your videos.
My suggestion would be that in a long teaching video, fx a sweater video, you could say fx – to see this specific tecnique repeated, please go to my video “How to increase on a sleeve”.
What I also like, and which many have said, there’s a good sound, clear language, no birds, no cars, no kids, no air planes, no washingmashine, no dogs, no runny nose, just a calm and focused teacher!
Please don’t give up on your videos, not everything has to be fast and easy, let’s take our time, and be taught like it has always been the tradition of crafts, by seeing and repeating again and again.
A knit a long with a cosy sweater as the project would be great. A Cheryl sweater :o)
Kærlig hilsen Sarah Diedrich.
Thank you for this lovely comment of encouragement and what you like about the presentations Sarah. However, I don’t understand what you mean about an “fx a sweater video.” Effects? Fix. And I even looked the the translation of Kærlig hilsen. My warmest regards to you too.
p.s I still use the pepper mill I bought in the Dansk store in København in 1970. My first husband and I camped outside the city in a leaky tent one long weekend and it was one of my favorite trips ever.
My first impulse was to say “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” with regards to your videos. I have watched and benefited by many of them, and I enjoy your approach and the way you present/teach.
I particularly like that your close ups are well done. With some YouTube presenters, I learn more about the back of their head and shoulder than about the technique they are trying to demonstrate.
I suppose that since anything can be improved, that perhaps larger projects or instructions for multiple techniques (showing different types of cast ons, increases, whatever) may benefit by a short introductory video of what will be taught/demonstrated, then present each type in a separate video. I believe you did you sweater video this way.
Whatever changes you decide to make, or not make, just keep sharing your knitting knowledge, please! It is a valued asset, and a most enjoyable one, too.
Thank you Gail. I am really loving this idea of organizing by type of skill or having series of related videos. Soon I’ll be starting a group on Twined Knitting as part of a Kickstarter fulfillment project and after that I thought I’d love to do a series on short rows: 2 different ways to execute them and then when and where do you use them and how are they can work very differently with different applications. But they’re soooo useful.
I just want to add that I agree with Ann Wigins comments above. I
I value your videos BECAUSE they are instructional. I don’t need any more quickie demonstration videos. In my busy life, Yours are the closest I can get to sitting in a classroom with an encouraging, knowledgable and patient teacher.
Thank you Marie. I was worried that I go into too much detail but it seems that most of the people responding like that approach. And I wouldn’t be especially happy doing the “quick and dirty” demo type. There are lots of people doing that already so someone can watch their videos if that’s what they want. Or both if they want deeper coverage of a topic. I always consult more than one video when I’m looking for something new like how to glaze a window in a door (which is different from how to glaze it in an old-fashioned wooden frame. That I can do, but we had an astonishing windstorm in August that blew the door to one of my tiny buildings open and smashed the window in it. I still don’t have it fixed because I need to borrow another set of hands. This weekend I hope.)
Hmm… I’m going to buck the trend and say that I think the length of your videos is just about right. I don’t think short is necessarily better, because something has to be sacrificed to make it shorter. In most cases, that “something” is the in-depth “why”, which is one of the key elements that really sets your videos apart from others on YT. If making things shorter means losing that, then don’t.
Before I started knitting, I used YT primarily for entertainment, and not much at that. Since I picked up knitting two months ago, I’ve been using it increasingly more to broaden my knowledge of the craft. Before you really learn anything about a subject, you don’t know just how much you don’t know, so that’s the first thing I have been learning. For viewers like me, I think we tend to use YT more as a buffet where we see something interesting, and we click it and learn something new. As I learn more (and I learn just which things I don’t know), I’ll start looking more for videos on specific topics.
In general, I think the content is great as it is. The length is good. Your videos are well organized and thought out, both in-depth and clear. There’s not much more a person could ask for. Like other have pointed out, lighting could be improved. One suggestion is to look at LED lighting. Part of the issue, I think, is that your lighting is too “warm” (too orange/red). LED lighting tends to have a higher color temperature (more blue/purple) which will come across better on video.
As an aside, I’m a former computer engineer with experience in graphic design, who is now retired due to disability. If there’s anything I can help with, such as typing up printouts/cheatsheets, making knitting charts, etc., feel free to contact me. I’ve got time and resources to spare.
Thank you Billy! Both for the suggestion of the LED lights and the offer for graphic design help. Lights are definitely my weak spot. I studied audio production at the U of WA in 2006-2007 (the 60-year-old woman with 28 mostly young men. I was the “mom” of the year-long class.) but I definitely want to improve the lighting. I manually white balance both the long shots and the close ups every time I turn on the camera but I think one problem might be not enough light for the close ups and it needs diffusion. Too much diffusion and I won’t get any shadow and I like some of that because I think you can see the texture of the fabric better than when it’s blown out with light.
I absolutely love that people are commenting on it to help me see how they perceive it and how I might work with it.
p.s. I’m probably going to keep the long shots in the warm range and not too bright. I’m pushing 70 in a couple of years and we don’t want to illuminate ALL the laugh lines in my face (I’m kinda vain that way. 🙂 )
Hi Cheryl
I use utube for everything I want to learn, and I like the longer ones as I can sit and
work through with them. Nothing is more frustrating than a video that just shows part of what you need and you are left searching the site to see if someone else has made a better one that takes you through the details.
Please keep up the good work, your Bond videos I return to time and time again.
Hugs from NZ
Helen
A little over a year ago I took a knitting class with my 6 year old daughter at our local library. The woman there was very patient with my daughter, but she didn’t have much time to work with me. That’s when I found your videos on YouTube. For someone new to the craft, your pacing in the videos is perfect. You not only explain what to do, but why it should be done. As a result, I feel like I don’t just know how to knit, I understand how to knit. It is an important difference – and one that led me to knitting my daughter a sweater that fits (thank you for that) as a novice knitter. Little snippets could not have done what the longer format has done for me. I, for one, am thankful for your approach to your videos.
Thanks so much Chuck for that confirmation and HURRAY!!!! that you took a knitting class with your 6-year-old daughter. That’s a perfect age to learn and it’s so important to model beginner’s mind for our children, not to mention that you devoted time to her so that she feels important to you. And now you have a craft to share. It’s flat-out wonderful all around.
A close, long-term friend of mine is a gifted fiber designer and she just took on the 2-day a week job as the knitting and crochet teacher at our local, small Waldorf school She asked me if I could be be her backup (substitute teacher in more academic circles) in case she had to miss some day. I said of course. It’s a treat to work with them.
I almost rival a goldfish for attention span. I do love your videos and am a cut to the chase kind of person. If I want to know how to do a stitch or a bind off I don’t want 30 minutes (OK, often it seems like and hour or two but is only a few minutes on lots of videos I’ve watched) of “intro” before I see what I need. I find myself checking out and missing what I was looking for just as when I was a kid in school. I do like YOUR videos and yes, you are a teacher – and I’d bet you were a teacher before you trained to be one. I do like the class concept but as you’ve done with your sweater videos where they break it into episodes. An index with time references for what’s taught, where in a video with different things so that I can find a certain piece of info would be lovely. Maybe I like your videos best because I like you. That’s also important, you’re likable and easy to listen to. If you’re familiar with the Myers-Briggs personality testing you’ll know that I’m really the odd duck because I’m an Intuitor/Thinker. You don’t tell me how I must do something, you show me how to make things work. Thank you.
Nancy! I love how you make me laugh. Yes. I was a teacher in several previous lifetimes. I cut the length of the intro with the first video of this new season. A friend has written a new theme song for my channel. She’s the one who plays the harp you hear. Her lyrics are wickedly funny so I’m not sure how I’ll incorporate it because there are multiple verses . . . maybe just as a separate video.
I’m liking the indexing idea. I’ve already developed indices on my new creations which I think are very cool and I had better hurry up and offer them because I have already distributed some of them as payment to Kickstarter backers 9 months ago and they were well received. And here I’m just sitting on them. Before Christmas so that people can ask Santa for them. Yes. I’ll put that on my list.
I’m an ENFJ by the way and are you a Gemini? Or is it in an important place besides your sun sign in your chart? You sound like it.
Cheryl, I’ve just recently found and watched your excellent video about yarn weights/ply/worsted. I can’t tell you how much it helped to clear up the different terms. I am a member of the KnittingParadise forum, which includes members from all over the world, so it gets very confusing because the terms are inconsistent. I thought your presentation was very good, very clear, logical, and well-organized; and I especially appreciated your pleasant voice and down-to-earth, warm manner. I even joined your group because of that video. It didn’t take me long to recognize you to be a very nice, probably witty person – one with whom I could be friends. So, keep doing what you are doing! My uses of You Tube is just as you have said: to find answers to a particular problem I’m having, or to learn how to do something new…or old, if I’ve forgotten! So, here are some observations: Some presenters use too many words, and take too long to get to the point, and some go so fast, you have to watch it over and over. I guess the goal is to get it perfect! I’m left-brained, so I will lose interest pretty fast if the content is not organized in a logical order, and doesn’t drag, or repeated more than necessary. I also am visual, so I loved your use of the board with the three words written. I still remember them!
Thanks for what you do, and please keep doing it!
I search YouTube for videos of specific techniques. I also look for small projects with the complete project presented, like fingerless mittens or a hat. In these, sometimes the presenter will stop the camera when it gets to a section where nothing new is happening for multiple rows. Then they start up again when something different is happening. I like to be able to go to a link for printed directions.
Thanks Carol Ann. I always appreciate your intelligent take on things.
Dear Cheryl,
I love love LOVE your videos! They are so very useful in every way. I learned to use a Bond because of you. (Now I am hoping to learn to use a Brother KH 800 which has a ribber attachment though no manuals for either piece nor the Knit Master came with it…)YouTube is my go-to for all things. Seeing something done makes more of an impact on my brain than just reading about it. I like both the reading and seeing, though, so show notes are such a good thing. If you have simple notes attached to your YouTube with a clickable link to more extensive notes, that would be ideal at least for me. Also I have a high tolerance for length of video. When real teaching is happening, I can sit there all day. Well, almost. So far I have never wanted your videos to end because I had been used up by them…always wanted even more.
You do a great job. Please take care of yourself and keep up the good work.
Thank you for this generous comment Pattie. I hadn’t thought of more extensive notes for the videos . . . though I have developed what I think is a very cool resource for the BOND that incorporates my videos and has searchable transcripts and indexes to all of them, all in the coolest package ever. Part of the purpose of this post was to see if I should add anything to it to improve it before I offer it for sale. I already offered it to my Kickstarter backers and they have been very positive in their response.
I agree totally with Geremy and Esther. They hit the nail in the head.
Your instructions ARE wonderful, and easy to understand for anyone; you are an intelligent and thoughtful teacher.
Thank you Maya. You are generous. And I do work hard at it.
Since I discovered your teaching videos a couple of years ago, Since then my knitting finishing has improved tremendously. I have many of your very informative videos ‘saved’ on my Bookmarks bar so they’re very handy when I need them. Others are saved under ‘Others’. You get my drift, right?
I quite agree with Geremy’s suggestions (boom!) I would like to see ‘captions’ on your short videos, if possible, especially for the hard-of-hearing knitters.
Thank you for this comment Wilma. And I’m flattered that I’m saved on the Bookmarks bar. 🙂 I do have some of my videos captioned but because it is such a laborious process for me (I’m not a good typist) I hire it done and it’s expensive in proportion to the amount of money I get paid per video view. For 100,000 views (yes, that’s one-hundred thousand views) I get paid between $300 and $350 depending on the time of year. I don’t get that many views in a month and most of my videos never get anywhere near that many views. So, for example, a video that has 20,000 views, which seems very healthy and “popular” would earn a total of about $60 spread out over several years of its lifetime. I’m working to make my business more sustainable than just posting to YouTube, as gratifying as that is. It doesn’t pay for itself yet but it will, I’m confident. I just have to add different things (while still posting on YouTube).
I love your videos in which you teach so many great things in a way I process. I had watched many several times before I bought my 1st ISM. You should keep those online to help newbies, but Geremy Walker’s idea is wonderful for when a knitter needs a refresher on a specific technique. I also don’t like the background music/noise on some other videos I have seen. Some have such loud machine operation sound that my ears hurt as I watch with earphones while hubby watches TV. It would be much better with a mic near the speaker rather than aimed at the machine. I have not had that problem with your vids, but thought I would mention as a precaution as you make new ones. Thank you Cheryl for all your help.
Thanks Roxanne! I just thought of this the other day: to break out individual skills from that long BOND series like “Increases on the USM” and decreases, casting on, the “Breaks-all-the-rules-cast-on” and post them as separate, short videos and several of you have suggested it. It’s great to know that we’re thinking along the same lines. But, of course, all of these things take time. They’ll eventually get done but I’m trying to focus on getting new videos going. Last week’s video took over 26 hours to research, write (that was the big piece because I threw so much out and reorganized a dozen times), shoot, capture, edit and upload. At least I won’t run out of interesting things to do soon. 🙂
I use a lavelier mic attached close to my mouth and a “shotgun” mic attached to the camera. This second one gives some background resonance because the lav is kind of “flat” sounding because it’s so tiny. Most people are just using the microphones on their cameras and those are usually not very good and are not aimed the right way. Sound I’m pretty good with. Lighting, not so much. That’s next.
In general I use YouTube to find information about a specific subject I am interested in. Sometime for entertainment (recently watched all episodes of “Hogan’s Heroes”) which includes movie trailers, tv shows, and various genre of music.
In the knitting arena, after finding your video’s, I will first see if you have a video on the subject, and if so watch yours first. I have found your instructions to be concise and very easy to follow and your encouraging words have spurred me on to greater exploration in my knitting, creating my own designs and experimenting with knitted fabric.
I think a knit along would be great! I used to go to a local shop doing knit-a-long’s. I quit going when my ride didn’t want to go anymore. This would be something I could access on my schedule and never leave home. I can still interact with a community of women doing the same thing and invite my neighbor to work it with me. 😊
Good morning from sunny Australia. 🙂
I am not a hand knitter, so have principally benefited from your older, long-form video instruction on Bond knitting. Those, and the long format, have been invaluable. I can hardly thank you enough. They gave me the confidence to try machine knitting. The contextualised instruction worked for me, and fitted my own learning style.
I do need to understand a technique or process, in order to integrate it and really be able to recall and use it. Short rows, for example: I had to understand how they built, before I could get it right.
A competency-based approach might be served by short demonstrations of discrete techniques. Those are the sort of how-to short videos I might look for, if wanting to know how to do something mechanical around the house. (It might certainly be useful to know where to jump to in a longer video clip, to be able to watch a knitting technique a few times.) But your educational approach invites us into a broader relationship with the material, and not just how-to. I can only thank you again for taking the time to do that.
Cecilia
How delightful to hear from your sunny self in sunny Australia Cecilia! Thank you for this kind comment and you are so welcome. Yes. It’s good pedagogy to use the contextualized skills format but in terms of energy and as a business model it’s not sustainable. It’s way too many hours for very little compensation.
I am going to break out individual skills from the BOND tapes and post them (when, I’m not sure). I thought of that only last week and a lot of you chimed in with variations of that idea.
How curious to be thinking about you entering spring as I’ve started my everyday fires in the wood stove. It’s a cool autumn for us. And I’m ready for it. 🙂
I think smaller lessons are the way to go with YouTube unless you are teaching a specific pattern that would call for a longer course. Even with those kind of video classes I think they can be shortened down but taking out all the fluff and focusing on sections of the pattern where people would get hung up or need to know how to do a specific technic .
YouTube also offers the playlist feature so that you can group similar technic videos. I’m sure you knew this already .
I’d say keep doing the videos the way you do it. You’re an educator and when you teach in your videos you don’t assume anything about your audiences knowledge of things except basic knitting skills. So for me you are not making me feel dumb for not knowing something coming into the video. And just find ways to incorporate features that YouTube has to offer.
Thanks for weighing in Joey! I already use playlists but I hadn’t thought of putting the same videos in different playlists . . . like I have the “This Knitting Life” playlist that has all 53 newer videos but I could then make one that was just cast-ons or bind-offs using the same programs. That’s an excellent idea. See . . . I knew this crowd-brain thing would work!
I am a self-taught crafter,I depended mostly on books. A couple of years before I retired I bought myself a pc. Now this has been a challenge, but I persevered. I sometimes think I am waring out the keys that spell youtube.
If I come across a subject that I am interested in I make a note or go straight to whereelse Youtube. I have been following many of your tutorials. I enjoy your demos, but wish they were a bit more indebt for my senior brain.
I go to You tube for any and every thing. some techniques I never knew existed. It has been my source of learning.
I am happy I joined your mailing list. and look forward to all I can learn to improve and enjoy my crafts. Hope this answers the question adked.
Thank you. Marjorie McKenzie
Thank you, Marjorie, for commenting and congratulations on getting a PC and persevering. It helps keep us young(ish) I think. 🙂
I think you have explained very well how people use YouTube. Nowadays people tend to search online a quick answer to almost everything, so long educational videos would probably end with high rebound levels.
I have learnt a lot of knitting techniques with YouTube. I ‘ve learnt a lot from you. I love videos showing how to do a specific stitch but they’re useless if you don’t know what to do with them. So, both are important, both are necessary.
But the point is that anybody can demostrate on a video but very little can teach. I love, love, love the way you teach, the way you structure the topic and how you demonstrate your thesis.
I am a book lover. Maybe a book with QR code leading to your videos on specific moments could be a great way to combine both ways to approach the teaching of knitting.
There’s only one “but” to say. You should reconsider the lighting when recording the moment of knitting itself: it’s too dark and moody. It would be better a clearer background with more light IMHO.
Thank you for your videos and all the knowledge you put into them. I really love them.
Thank you for your kind words and I absolutely agree with you that the lighting is my place that needs improvement. This last video I even think the key light (the one in front of my face) drooped because the wing nut on the light stand was loose but I didn’t catch it. When I’m shooting myself (which is almost always) I am so busy tracking the script/presentation that I miss these things. I’ll look into softening the close-up lighting too. Adding another source and softening them with filters. I really know very little about it (lighting) but I should get in there and experiment more.
I use YouTube for everything and anything I want to learn. Your videos are top notch in all aspects. You have a pleasant, calming voice and the audio is clear with no loud or silly background music. Any video I have watched you have gone into great detail explaining and then show exactly what you just explained. I sometimes have to watch dozens of videos before I find one that has all the qualities of your videos. You and three others are my favorites for knitting. I couldn’t be happier with your videos and can’t think of a single thing I would change.
Well Golly Maria! Thank you so much and I agree about background music. I am a strong auditory processor and I can’t concentrate with that going on.
When I retired three years ago, I made it my goal to take my knitting from homemade to handmade. Most sweaters I made weren’t wearable and so I knitted flat prayer shawls for church. I took a Craftsy class that got me started in the right direction, but then I found your YouTube videos. I have given your name to most of my knitting friends that have questions (Easy name to remember, particularly if they are brunettes.).
I like what you do. I admit it can be a bit overwhelming going to YouTube for a demonstration on a particular technique, but I include your name in the search. If nothing comes up, then I look through all the other videos.
My only suggestion would be to do a knit along with some challenging techniques. I don’t think you need to compete with Craftsy at this time but I think the personal feel that you bring to your videos would create a stronger sense of community with your followers. Through email and the videos, the knit along could be done as a series and for faster knitters, they could work along with you, and the slower k otters could refer to the YouTube videos as they work through the project.
Thanks Lynn. Great idea. Now what would you like to see as a knit along? I’m sort of interested in exploring top-down set-in sleeve sweaters. I have gathered 4 different resources/methods but have yet to try them.
If I’m looking up how to do a stitch, and I see a 20 minute video, I’m usually turned off by it and look for a shorter one.
I think that Youtube is fantastic for a sort of bite-sized, splintered approach. As an example, you may have one video where you discuss different kinds of bind-offs. Show finished examples of each one and explain what the pros and cons are, but do not demonstrate or teach any of them in that video.
Instead, provide on-screen links to individual demonstration/teaching videos as you explain each one. That way a user can watch the first “directory” video, listen to see what situation suits their needs, and then go directly to a video that explains only what they are looking for.
This results in an entire series of interconnected videos, the ‘bind-off’ series, each one short and digestible, but as a whole, well-organized and expansive. You can compile those into a youtube playlist called “The Bind-Off Series” in case someone wants to watch all of them, or you want to add more to the category later. It’s really the best of both worlds.
As for the contents of an individual teaching video, I usually prefer seeing the finished example, then a full-speed demo, and the lastly the instructional portion. “Here is where we are going, and now I will show you how to get there.”
For what it’s worth, your knitting videos are already fantastic, you’ve taught me more about knitting than anyone else, so I don’t think you have too much to worry about. Your Bond videos are still my go-to whenever I have questions about that argumentative contraption. If you go with your gut I think you’ll do fine.
Geremy, thank you! These are some great organizational ideas. I sort of backed into YouTube by trying out what would happen if I put up my old videos without a real overall strategy. I’m finally getting around to trying to bring some order to this chaos. And thanks for your kind words.
I use youtube for a variety of purposes — entertainment, education, consumer opinion, to get preservice musac for a funeral… But I use your videos to improve my knitting. Sometimes to master a technique I need, and sometimes to find out something I didn’t know existed.
I have always found it much easier to remember how to do something when I understand it. When you explain why something is done it helps me remember to do it. Educationally, showing how all our fragments of knowledge link together (ie referring to other times when the same solution is used) makes extra pathways in the brain. This is why your videos are more helpful than others which demonstrate the same skill but don’t teach it or put it in context.
Possibly your longer videos would be more helpful with a ‘contents’ type card at the start that told the viewer at what time key sections began. Some would also benefit from a short printable summary of instructions to refer to later. Both are for viewers who have already watched the whole thing several times and now want to check some point.
I value the comments you make that make me feel that I am part of a craft tradition that stretches worldwide and across centuries. My knitting skills are modest, but you give me the confidence and inspiration to tackle new challenges. You do that better than the people who simply demonstrate a skill – because there is a difference between demonstrating and teaching.i
Thanks for another of your always thoughtful comments Anne. I know that my pedagogy is sound but I’m not always sure that it’s worth the time and effort to put it on YT if people don’t take advantage of it. And thank you for your kindness and encouragement.
I use You Tube when I want to see a technique I don’t know how to do. I watch a lot of knitting videos on You Tube and have learned a lot. If there is something I don’t understand in a knitting pattern, I go to You Tube. I go to You Tube to learn how to knit techniques on a knitting machine. I recently purchased a Studio LK 150 and I have problems with binding off without gate pegs which my other machines have. All I can say is I am glad for You Tube.
hi. I have been consulting your You Tube classes for just a few weeks. Have been a knitter for more than 50 years, and consider myself fortunate to find you while looking for instructions for a mitered square. I looked at several tutorials, and felt I could learn the most from you–and I did. I have made so many kite-shaped squares by increasing to make them. I knew when I finished the first small sample, that I had finally hit it. Loving the eight inch miters I have done for Knit A Square with your help.
You are an excellent teacher, and I want to thank you!
Looking forward to much more instruction–maybe even years more!
Thank you Ann. And I’m glad you found me. I don’t know how many more years I’ll do this. I’m thinking at least 5 and probably 7, when I’ll be 75. Who knows? I quit splitting wood when I was 65 because swinging the maul was too hard for my shoulders. Then this year my son bought a super-axe and I love using it. I’m not splitting the big rounds with it but I’m sure getting in a lot of satisfying thwacks on smaller pieces. I guess my point is that it’s hard to predict the future. 🙂