I teach, I'm a teacher.
I don't teach grade school or middle school or highschool or even college.
But I teach.
It seems I teach at every opportunity. I just can't help myself I pass information along.
At ballet, in the bookstore, at the grocery.

I teach 3 year olds. They are usually such fun. The potty training is getting to me this year though.
One of the other teachers is calling me "pee pee head". That's enough about that. Yuck.

The last few weeks I have been teaching knitting.
Okay so the women I've been teaching techniques to already know the basic stitches.
They are ready to learn to do more than furry scarves and felted bags.
The last few weeks have been very SOCK oriented.

Try teaching someone how to turn a heel when their primary language is not English.
It is difficult at the best of times. Plus her pattern really sucked. So I found her a pattern that
explained the magic of turning the heel in a way that almost anyone could understand.

I met with a few other teachers from the preschool on Monday of this week. Boy the strokes were
wonderful. They think I am super intelligent. I fixed many mistakes. Picked up stitches and explained how to read your knitting. They want to do this a few Monday evenings a month so they can pick my brain.

Today I am meeting with one of those women to teach her how to knit a Worsted Weight boot sock.
She is so excited. She has doubts about her ability to knit a sock, let alone a pair before Christmas.
She wants to surprise her husband with socks though so I will do my best to help her. It also helps that she
teaches right across the hall from me and I'll be able to boost her confidence on a regular basis.

I have to tell you that a hand knit sock is special. They are warm and wonderful. They have no seams to bother your toes. A hand knit pair of socks knit just for you is a gift of love. After all that work, you give the sock to someone and they Walk on them and Wear Them Out. IF you give a special pair of socks like this to someone you must really love them, or they must be paying you dearly.

I usually make socks out of fine sock yarn on size 1 or maybe 2 needles. Knitting a Worsted Weight pair is FAST. Almost instant gratification. I also make both socks at the same time. Yes it takes twice as many needles, but when you are done, you are done.

By the way, one of the best descriptions I have read for turning a heel is in Yarn Harlot's book "Knitting Rules!"
If you don't know of the Yarn Harlot her real name is Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and she has a blog.
http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/ and has written 3 books with another on the way. She is a riot. If you have a lot of time, read her blog from the beginning, you'll be rolling.

In case you are interested in knitting socks there are many many free patterns on the web.
Here are a few:
http://spinfree.tripod.com/socks/

http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/socks.php

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter05/PATTthuja.html

http://mary4169.tripod.com/Easy_Worsted_Socks.pdf

http://tiajudy.com/putmeon.htm

Most of these are patterns for worsted weight yarn. They knit up quick.

I'm off to knit on my Wildfoote yarn socks, on size 1 needles, they are not quick, but they are beautiful and will wear like iron.

Viki