Rowing Lessons with the Sheep

From the script:

"SHEEP. (Handing her a pair of knitting needles.) Can you row? 

ALICE. Yes, a little – but not on land – and not with needles –

(The needles turn into oars in her hands, and ALICE sees that they are in a little boat, gliding along between banks.)

SHEEP. (Taking up another pair of needles.) Feather!

(Thinking that this does not sound like a remark that needs any answer, ALICE says nothing, but pulls away. Every now and then the oars get stuck in the water, and will hardly come out again.)

SHEEP. (Taking more needles.) Feather! Feather! You’ll be catching a crab directly.

ALICE. (Thinking to herself.) A dear little crab! I should like that."

p. 35 - 36

Rowing Terms:

Feather: To turn the oar so that its blade is parallel with the water (opposite of square).

Crab, or Catch a Crab: A rowing error where the rower is unable to timely remove the oar blade from the water and the oar blade acts as a brake on the boat until it is removed from the water. This results in slowing the boat down. A severe crab can even eject a rower out of the shell or make the boat capsize (unlikely except in small boats). Occasionally, in a severe crab, the oar handle will knock the rower flat and end up behind him/her, in which case it is referred to as an 'over-the-head crab.'

(wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowing_terms)

As we see later on in the scene, Alice does indeed "catch a crab" when "...one of the oars gets fast in the water and won’t come out again, and the handle of it catches [her] under the chin, and sweeps her off the seat, and down among the heap of rushes" (p. 37).