…unload the washer. Multi-tasking at its finest.
I’m power-knitting this week to get a major project done and off my hands and (I hope) into the mail in time for Christmas. Frankly I don’t really care if it reaches the recipient by Christmas as long as it’s out of my house and off my mind, which is swirling with way-more-interesting ideas that I want to test out for classes next season. Which is right around the corner!! Eek!!
This has been an interesting year for me. When Janet and Donna both decided not to teach anymore, Karen stepped up her teaching schedule to fill some of the void. I was so happy when Kristin Ruth agreed to teach beginner knitting; her first class was such a success that almost all her students have gone on to much more challenging projects! I rather reluctantly stepped in to fill out the rest of the schedule – hadn’t done much teaching in the past few years and wasn’t sure I wanted to – dithered around and thought about winding down the store and blah, blah, blah. Guess what? I had a great time teaching!
Our Saturday morning afghan knit-along, which began in late August and just wrapped up, was so much fun. As people got comfortable with the concept, they came up with their own blocks and with interesting ways to combine colors (and – ahem! – some inadvertent modifications that worked out just fine) and shared them with the group. I think it won’t be long before we have a Yarn Gallery afghan that is ours uniquely, and that may be another knit-along next year. I’m already missing our group!
Taking Kristin’s beginners big steps forward was another rewarding aspect of teaching. We came up with a few projects that would teach them some great techniques and be fun to make. They learned the magic of cables and knitting in the round, and along the way gained experience with increasing and decreasing and working with double points. I’m pretty sure there will be lots of cowls, hats and mitts under their family trees this Christmas.
Finding projects that will engage our more experienced knitters is always a challenge. Churchmouse’s Modern Wrapper is deceptively simple-looking and much of it really is simple knitting. But the magic of a class is that it motivates you to get through that massive amount of stockinette stitch so that you can get to the interesting parts, plus you are more assured of your success because there is so much support along the way. Little technique-rich projects, like entrelac and thrumming, keep you learning new things about your craft and sharpen your skills and your confidence.
So, I’m loving teaching and I’m pretty excited about our projects for next time. You can tell I’m in a ruminative mood today, right? Sorry for all the verbiage. Because of the new schedule of hours and the fact that I’m teaching most Sundays, I don’t get as much time to gab with you as I’d like, so I seem to be running on today! And speaking of our hours, I believe our Friday nights are a bust so we’ll be changing that in the New Year and trying something else.
Reminder! Please come to our party this Sunday, the 18th, starting at 1 p.m. If you need support – moral, technical, or “spiritual” –
to finish up a project, we can help! Gift certificates from our December drawings will be handed out (no need to be present, of course, we’ll let you know!) We’ll have some light refreshments and if you bring a little something to share, we may have a treat or two to share with you too!
