Charming Chat

I had a lovely discussion today with Isabella, age 5. Isabella knows how to fingerknit. She makes scarves. Did you know that if you fingerknit with thin yarn, it will have holes, but if you use big yarn you will have holes but they won't be so big? And if you use big yarn, you can make it so it doesn't curl?

I do not know any of these things. I only know how to knit with sticks. Isabella is going to teach me if I will teach her how to knit jewelry. I think it's a fair deal. I've signed up for fingerknitting 101.

A Public Apology

This is a public apology to Nola. When I saw her on Monday, I realized she really did want to throw her coffee at me on Saturday. (You will have to read Saturday's post to know what transpired) I did not mean to cause offense, and thought I was teasing a good friend. But alas,I realize I too would be discouraged/disappointed/sad/angry if someone pointed out flaws in my knitting. She has done me a favor in pointing out my personality flaw. -A little too anal and talking without thinking! I shall work on it. If only I could frog back words, I would. I'm sorry.

Scoop de Loop

I finally got my butt over to Loop, a not quite new yarn shop that moved their location to be closer to me. First,however, I stopped in at the Alterra Coffee next door for the Saturday Stitch N Bitch that I had also been hearing about but never got to. Both were pleasant surprises. Nola from Monday night knitting was at Alterra with a couple of senior knitting ladies and their spouses. One of the elderly gentlemen was a crocheter, the other was a non-knitting spouse, but they blew me away. I thought my husband was supportive of my addiction, but these guys take enabling to a new level. I joked with them about what tightly knit couples they were, and the conversation unraveled from then on.

Nola was wearing the beautiful and difficult aran turtleneck that I saw her making last year, but never saw modeled before. I promptly (but politely with some apologies) pointed out that she had crossed a cable the wrong way smack dab in the middle of the front. A true friend, she did not throw her cup of coffee at me, and just explained to the senior ladies that I suffer from anal retentiveness ad-nauseum.

Moving on to Loop, I discussed the possibility of their carrying Knitter's Journey Jewelry Kits with the owner. With a potential sale on the horizon,of course I spent my potential profits before walking out the door. Anyway, my scoop on Loop: I was pleased to see a nice amount of traffic in the store, and mostly young knitters at that. The store is a nice size with very high ceilings and filled with light. It is not the biggest yarn selection I've ever seen, but she carries some high quality unique stuff along with a good selection of standards like Cascade 220, Noro,and Cotton classic. The young owner was very friendly, and I will definitely return.

Paris, Je t'aime

It is cold and snow covered here in the Midwest, and I am dreaming about my upcoming vacation. We are going to Paris for a week in March, and I am starting to research and plan my daily itinerary. I know I will be able to find a yarn shop--my sister was just there, and she said she visited one in the Latin Quarter, and I recently spotted one in the film, "Paris, Je t'aime," so I know it is not mission impossible.

A pilgrimage to a droguerie/magasin du laine/tricoterie or whatever they call it, will be an homage to my knitting roots. I was first inspired to knit when I was a poor college student, backpacking around France in the summer of 1980. It seemed that every time I got on a train, I would spy a french woman knitting something tres chic out of gorgeous designer yarns. I fell in love with the possibilities of color and texture, and I begged my mother to teach me to knit when I returned home. My very first project was a wool cap for the french boyfriend (the reason why I was backpacking around France in the first place.) Malheureusement, the boyfriend hat was as cursed as the dreaded boyfriend sweater. We parted ways and moved on with our lives.

It is funny how things work. If I had never dated the french guy, I don't think I would have ever learned to knit. Knitting has been my mainstay in my adult years. It has helped me to de-stress and be creative at times when I was unfulfilled in my work. It has given me lasting friendships, (Monday night knitters - 8 yrs and counting)and a heightened sense of self-esteem (state fair blue ribbons). So to Paris and to my friend Hugues ---Merci.

Building a Knitting Community

I have been trying to get my co-workers to join my Stitch N Bitch group or to found one of our own. There are plenty of knitters around here. But it's like trying to knit a Fair Isle sweater for an extra large man--a slow,somewhat difficult, but colorful process. It's hard to get more than 2 people together at one time. We are a work hard/work long hours team of dedicated educators and support staff. Lunch hours don't work for a meeting time --teachers feed students at lunch table and administrative staff tend to eat in 10 minutes and go back to their desks. After school is often scheduled with meetings, tutoring or catching up.

It was Faculty In-service day today, and I was able to carve out 1 hour of knitting time by offering a team building, feel good Knitting Workshop. Unfortunately, far too many workshops were offered, and we were only 3, but I was happy to hook them in. (Knit them together???) I extoled upon the virtues of knitting in community, and we had a wonderful time. None of the participants wanted to be photographed, but here is the lovely shawl-in-progress of one of my newest knitting buddies. I will keep prosthelitzing. Eventually, it will happen. Perhaps I need to go to the students instead of the teachers. A knitting club is in my future.

Appreciated Knitting

Is is so nice when you give a knitted gift and it is actually appreciated! I was tickled pink to receive these pictures from my co-worker - showing her daughter in the little sweater I made for her. I had already posted a picture of her in the sweater with matching cap back in March when she was born. You can look back on my old post and see how much she has grown! It's nice to see that the sweater still fits, and that she has gotten almost 10 months of wear out of it. It looks very cute with the little green pants outfit.

It has been truly fun to knit little outfits for all the babies that were born at my workplace. (3 boys and 2 girls!) It exemplifies one of the many reasons I love knitting. I am relatively new at my workplace, and my little act of kindness has helped me get closer to my colleagues. Plus, of course, I love children and don't have any of my own, so it's kind of a surrogate motherhood thing.

Blue Ribbon Red Mittens

I've already posted about the Mitten Tree project that I do with the kindergarten children here at my school. Here is another pic from that event that one of the teachers just shared with me. Here, I'm showing the children my favorite hat and mitts. The mittens took the blue ribbon at the Wisconsin State Fair last year. (The vest I'm wearing took second place a few years back) When I shared that little bit of information, the children applauded!

Because these mittens are special, I did not donate them to the mitten tree. I told the children that I was saving them to wear after Christmas when I knew Santa was bringing me a red coat. You should have heard the uproar that caused! How did I know I was getting a red coat? Did I talk to Santa? Thinking fast, I said, well--I had only asked for one thing, and I had been really, really good this year. I was 99% sure I was getting a red coat. Never having had little ones myself, I did not realize how quickly one can create controversy.

So, Santa did deliver the red coat, and I wear it to school with my red hat and mitts. My prediction came true, and the children are truly in awe of me.