learn poi

I wanted the kind of poi that have the trailing tails, but didn’t like what i was finding online. So I went to Walmart, picked up some cheap “George” brand stockings that were somewhat like tightly-knit-with-a-bit-of-sheer- fishnet stockings, tennis balls, dye, and that odd fuzzy knit yarn stuff. Put all of them together and you get sock poi with tails. The fuzzy knit yarn makes the tails beautiful (i should get different colors), but I’m concerned about knotting when the poi cross paths.
Fun stuff. Next, I have some cord that I’m dying, and I’ll wrap the tennis balls in cloth and make the type of poi on cords. =)

I’m learning that while practice is good, there is a point where you need to stop and take a break. I became very frustrated because somehow I was doing much worse than when I initially was practicing. Stopped. Next day, came back to them and did better than ever! Moves I could not do consistently became locked in stone. Very nice.
=)

I had my first private lesson with Molly (Wyldfyre) today- it was great. Though I understand the usefulness of online videos (and it’s free), it’s like I couldn’t grasp it that way. Today I learned reverse butterfly, 4 beat weave (is that the right name?), corkscrew, overhead butterfly, behind the back butterfly (sorta =P ), windmill, and a little bit about stalls. I learned more in 10 minutes than what I taught myself in hours. And I’m sure there were more moves- it was so much. And it was a blast! Molly made it very easy to pick up.
I’ll practice these for a while, and fill in stuff that I can learn from the web. Plus I learned that I need to compensate more on my left hand, work less with my shoulders, and stretches to avoid messing up my wrists too much.
So far, it’s great!!

Scheduled for this Friday! I can only learn so much from videos on the internet. Any tips?

I know the very very very very basics. I just emailed a local-ish teacher, and hopefully will hear something back soon. =)