Teaching My Daughter

My oldest daughter is learning how to knit. She is good too. We were standing in a yarn shop the other day when she spun around in her excited teenage way and announced she wanted to knit EVERYTHING in the world. Yarn, needles, patterns, knitting magazines are now her delight. Below is a post she wrote on her blog, I guess no one can say it better than her!


This week I have truly realized that a "break" is just about the raddest invention to have ever been implemented in the educational system.
I have departed from my previous 10 years of homeschool idealism to now understand to the full extent just how wonderful a nice break can be. (I used to abhor breaks... what else was I to do all day but tend to my books?)

I have also entered into a new relationship. It's very "on again, off again" at the moment but I am starting to see sparks of a real potential, the life long kind. Now, there are still many things we have to work out, a lot of issues to work out, one of them being a slight language barrier (to my encouragement we speak at least some kind of form of English.) but as far as I'm concerned I'm very much committed to making this work.
It's safe to say that I am in love.This, my friends, is my new passion.

I <3 you knitting.

One day I strive to be at the skill level represented in that picture, with my glowing hands raised upwards to the sky while standing in the middle of a bamboo forest admiring what I, Meg, have created with my two... glowing hands!
I want not just to knit socks, but also steering wheel covers and tissue box warmers, the kinds of things people actually use!
I shall create a legacy that will last beyond measures of time as I knit bullet proof vests for those who fight for our freedom and as the needles clack together to span the gaps between nations and forge a new peace that only the warm comfort of wool and steel (not steel wool mind you, that's very abrasive) can provide and clothe millions (or at the very least a gerbil) all in the name of knitting! It shall be done!

Well... at least if I never succeed in all that, I will have gained a nice hat and funky leg warmers.


She is amazing at how quick she is picking up this great form of art! I am very proud of her....

A Jane Austen Kind of Day

The felicity of sitting with a cup of tea, knitting in your lap and a Jane Austen movie in the dvd player. This day Emma was the selection. You know how when you have watched a movie so many times other things start getting noticed? Dresses, furnishings, jewelry, these things spark the imagination. "Could I make that dress?" "How did they turn that hem?" "Look at that scarf!" Comments only sewers and knitters would be saying! This day I was knitting my first sock, well, a felted slipper, but a sock nonetheless! I like to start out with felted projects when trying a new technique. All the "sins" are washed away! These are going to be for my mom as her Christmas present. This is the scarf I knitted during Emma. Bubbly yarn made up with a simple garter stitch. It is very skinny and cute!

Newness

I bought a set of new journals today. I love anything paper especially journals. I always want to write important and exciting things in them with the most eloquent words and perfect penmanship. This never happens. These will sit on my nightstand and ride around in my purse for awhile before something occurs and words get scribbled into them. Usually grocery lists. They are pretty with recycled paper vintage colors and graphics. My girls saw the journals on the dining room table and immediately wanted to snatch them away and scribble for themselves. I will have to watch this set or they will mysteriously wander away with "nobody" to blame. Blogging is much the same thing as a new set of journals, taking the photo for the top, tweaking the colors and deciding what to write first was just as exciting as cracking the front cover of a new paper one. Except there are no on-line grocery lists here! I have decided that this set is going to be dedicated to my knitting projects which are growing by leaps and bounds. They are a small size, 4 x 6, easy to carry around and jot down ideas when they strike. Ideas strike me at the most inconvenient moments, like now it is 1:00 a.m. Wow, it's late, Goodnight!

The First Stitch

I have always wanted to knit since I was a little girl. My mother bought me a children's knitting book while we were living in England. Many years later I was rummaging around in an old box and stumbled upon this long lost treasure. My adventure began! I learned how to cast on and make a knit stitch, a scarf or two emerged, but not much else! I needed a real person! A few years passed and I met a wonderful lady who sat with me and showed me how to knit and felt a purse. My first real project was a whopper for a beginner but it got done and I still use it to this day. During all of this rapid learning I was being treated for brain cancer. Knitting became a real life line during those long months before surgery and especially during recovery. The surgery was physically devastating I lost most motor skills and had to relearn everything. Knitting was a "safe" thing for me to do because it didn't require sharp objects....well not too sharp anyway! I was able to retrain my brain with hours of knitting, lots of purses filled my closet as this was the only thing I knew how to knit! Today I am learning new techniques and filling my house with lots of projects. It has come to my attention that one only needs so many hats, scarves, purses and whatnot so now my unsuspecting friends and family are being bombarded with knitted goodies. Christmas is upon us and the knitting goes on into the night.....