Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Knitting

I've been knitting up a storm lately.Mostly socks. Three pair in three weeks. Not bad. Not up to Yarn Harlots challenge of a sock a day, but respectable for knitting while waiting in car pool line and while Mariah dances.

I've also finished the Kid Silk Haze scarf for the Louisville Ballet silent auction that is to take place during the Gala on December 2nd. I'm pretty proud of that.

I've also been commissioned by another mom to make wristlets for her 2 daughters. She saw me wearing mine and asked and I said yes. I haven't given her a price yet.

Today there is no school but there is ballet class. Mariah is missing a shoe. Hopefully it will be found at the ballet center, if not I'll have to buy new. Thank goodness it isn't a pointe shoe that is missing!

Tomorrow will be different. Usually Thanksgiving is at Mom's house. She makes the Turkey and potatoes and rolls and I make the dressing/stuffing in the crock pot, the green bean casserole and what ever else she asks me to make. This year it is surprisingly at my brother and SIL's house. What will we do without the leftovers?I'm still making the stuffing and the greenbeans, I just have to transport it 40 minutes away to Indiana, instead of 2 blocks.

This will also be the first year in the last 20 that DH isn't making his cranberry salad from his mom's recipe. That is kind of sad.

Tonight I'm making a bean soup recipe from the Rachel Ray magazine. I made it a few weeks ago and it is really tasty. She calls it White bean, sausage and kale stew. The kids won't eat it but DH thinks it is fantastic.Just thinking about it is making me hungry.

Think I'll listen to a book and knit.
Keep me busy and away from food!

Viki
p.s. Found Mariah's shoe, in the mens dressing room in an open locker. Very strange.
She also got to do African dancing instead of modern today. Lots of fun, live music, drums!

Friday, November 03, 2006

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