Mitten Tree

Well, I did my Mitten Tree thing again. It was such fun. This year I read the book The Mitten Tree to the children and I contributed a record 11 hats and 6 pairs of mittens. Here are pics.


The wonderful teaching day I had with the children was followed by sad news the next day that my brother passed away. I was greatly comforted by the support of coworkers and knitting friends, and though this has been a very sad time for me, I feel truly blessed that I have the love of coworkers, students, family, and friends. I hope that all readers of this blog will enjoy the love of family and friends over the upcoming holidays. Peace.

Teaching children to knit

I taught knitting to 2 little girls and their Mom yesterday. The girls are incredibly cute, ages 7 (just barely) and 9. It was only the second time I tried to teach such young children,and I made the mistake of trying to teach them casting on. It was perhaps further complicated by the fact that 9 yr old is a lefty and everyone else is a righty, so I thought I'd accommodate the 9 yr old and teach her continental knitting while everyone else learned the American way. That wasn't a good idea either.

Despite the initial frustration and floundering, we soldiered on and all learned the knit stitch at least. Mom mastered everything - casting on, knitting and purling. The 9 year old is highly motivated, and I'm sure I will have a future State Fair winner there. I will have another knitting lesson with them over Christmas break, and I hope to get pictures then.

Life Interrupted

Well, my vow to post daily lasted exactly two days. Life has interrupted. Or more precisely, a life has been interrupted. I received a call on Monday that my brother was in the hospital but he was refusing treatment. He will be sent to hospice care and will not return home. His story is so sad. It is unbelievable that someone has had to endure so much suffering.

12 years ago,when he was just 45, brother had a stroke that left him partially paralyzed and with short term memory loss. His left arm is paralyzed, and he cannot maintain his concentration long enough to read or watch a movie from start to finish. He managed to live on his own all this time, but his health has been deteriorating. Last year, his left leg was amputated above the knee. He has been fighting gangrene in his remaining leg, but he is losing the battle. He had a massive heart attack on Monday. The doctor's recommended treatment is that they amputate his leg and put a stint in his heart. If they do this, he may live for many more years. But what would his quality of life be? So he has decided to die.

I have been reluctant to blog much about my personal life in the past, but I want the whole world to know that I love my brother, that I will remember the happier years.

If you know someone who is a chain smoker, perhaps this said tale of what smoking can do to you will help them quit.

Prize Mittens

I vow to be a better blogger. Even if it is just a quick picture and note, I will post every day until I get caught up on my knitting news.

Here is my student, S., with the mittens that I made for her for completing her reading program. I only have 3 students in this extra-curricular class, so I decided I could make each of them a pair of mittens for completing the course. S was the first to finish. She seems to like them. Her Mom tells me she is learning to knit as well. I shall have the entire school knitting before I am done.

Teaching the Next Generation

Once again, I must begin my blog with an apology for not posting much. I actually have been doing a bit more knitting, having completed 4 sets of children's mittens, 2 hats, and another baby vest since my last post. But I have also been busy with work and Grad school, which started 3 weeks ago. I have a backlog of knitting posts to get to.

At the end of October, I contributed knitting lessons to the school student raffle fundraiser and am excited that I will be passing on my knitting knowledge to the younger generation. I offered 3 different knitting prizes -- a Knitter's Journey Knit with Wire Kit and knitted jewelry lesson for a middle school age student, Private Knitting Lessons (won by a first grader) and Mother/Daughter lessons won by a 3rd grader. I'm excited to share my knowledge with the young winners. But interestingly enough, all three of the prize winners already have some knitting experience--even the first grader! All are very motivated to learn to knit. The 3rd grader told me she was so excited to win the raffle prize that she screamed when her name was called. According to the 1st grader's teacher, she has been knitting since Kindergarten. Her grandma has already taught her the knitting basics and she knits lots of scarves, but I was her inspiration when I spoke to the kindergarten and demonstrated knitting in conjunction with our Mitten Tree student charity project. I look forward to doing my Mitten Tree schtick with the kindergarten once again within the next few weeks. This pic is from last year or the year before, but it's always the same . . . the students are fascinated that two sticks and some string can make so many things. I love young children. I love to teach. I love to knit. Teaching young children to knit it the greatest joy of all.

Baby vest

As promised in last week's post, here is the finished baby vest. It was so quick and easy. It could have been done in one weekend if I had plugged away at it. This is for baby #2 of the 5 new babies at work this year. (Baby #1's outfit was posted in May) The yarn was from a Lorna's Laces kit that I won at a knitting get-away weekend (Another good reason to go on knitting vacation -- free or good buys on beaufiful yarn) I think I have enough yarn leftover for another newborn vest --2 gifts for $0! With 3 more to go, the price is right.

I created the pattern on the fly, and while I think it will fit, I'll make the neck a little wider for the next one. Those babies have big heads.

Is it cheating to post UFOs?

How can September be almost over without a post? I've knit just a wee bit. A vest for a new baby at work is almost done, but I'm too lazy to get out the camera and take a picture of it right now. Will post when finished.

A factor in the infrequent posting is that I've always felt it's a bit of a cheat to post a picture of a garment in progress, rather than post a finished object. Some knit blogs will document the progress on a project every day even if it's only 2 rows! I say that your knitting has become an excuse to blog rather than a blog about what you knit because you are not knitting! You are spending all your time blogging!

Passionate knitter though I may be, I've actually been in a big lull in my knitting ambition for the last year ( even before starting this blog). I used to knit at least 2 hours/day and recently I find a week may go by without my having picked up my knitting. Perhaps it's because I've been doing a lot of small gift projects for others and not much knitting for myself. I do love to make knitted gifts, but there is always a sense of obligation and deadlines (must be done by Christmas/the birthday/baby's due date) when making a gift.

I much prefer to make something for myself -- something out of luscious yarn, in a pattern of my own design--a long term project that I may end up re-working if I don't like it. When I have a knitted gift project, I always feel the deadline dampens my enthusiasm. The luscious angora that I bought at Stitches last year has been calling to me for some time, but I will not touch it until I get these baby gifts out of the way. Pretty much a serial knitter, I try to work on one project at a time and try to get things done. That being said, I still have more than one UFO in my knitting basket. Now if I would take a picture of every UFO in my stash and post one per day I will look like I'm a prolific blogger and goddess knitter. But I'm actually knitting less than I have in years --does that make any sense and is it a true representation of me? No!

I imagine some knitting bloggers out there may have a few opinions about that. Your comments are welcomed.