Sunny California
People here are not used to cold weather. I'm not either, but not this bad. There's soma unusual cold weather in southern California, but Houston was colder when I was there. Houston and other parts of Texas has somewhat extreme weather -- it can go from 100% humidity and totally stinkin' sweaty hot in one week to really cold with frost and ice the next week. California, especially SoCal is not even close to being that bad!
Anyway, while I was in TX one of the people I got to see was my friend Ann, who I met in college and taught how to cook and sew. This time, I taught her to knit. Her first lesson was the mantras:
"Hobby store yarn is only for practicing and learning."
"Do not waste your precious skills and time knitting something for someone using acrylic or other petroleum-based synthetic yarns."
"There is nothing shameful about being a yarn snob."
"Natural fibers are awesome."
So, after she understood those mantras, I showed her
how to cast on and knit. We then went to a HipKnitsHouston meeting at the Central location. There we met some lovely and friendly ladies, who mostly seemed to be transplants to Houston. One of the ladies, Kelly of Kelp!, was making this beautiful sweater out of Malabrigo yarn from a project in Knitting Nature. It was so soft that I just wanted to roll in it like a cat. Anyway, everyone at the meeting was amazed at the knitting prowess of my star student. Her stitches were really straight and had even tension, AND she didn't even drop a stitch! I think she's a natural...or....is it because I am an awesome teacher? ;)
The next day, I decided to take a field trip to one of the few yarn stores in Houston, Nancy's Knits. I ended up hanging out and chatting at the store for a couple of hours with the very welcoming and friendly Nancy (owner) and Michelle (regular customer). The shop is a small shop stocked well with all sorts of yarn -- a little something for everyone. Some of the yummy yarns Nancy carried include Fiesta, Noro, & Cherry Tree Hill. I showed Michelle and Nancy the projects stuffed in my giant purse and they admired my hand-painted yarns in my clapotis and the scarf for Linh. I bought myself some 5" #7 dpns by Lakewood and a skein of Berroco Ultra (50/50 alpaca/wool) in a deep red for Ann. After the store trip, I visited Ann again -- she wanted to make a baby hat for a gift for the next day! Talk about ambition! Ann then learned to purl, decrease, make tassels, pom-poms and bind off. That night, I made a baby hat with the Berroco for Joshua, Ann's large 9 mo old baby, and Ann will be using the rest of the yarn to make Josh matching booties.
I should call Ann and tell her that she should get an alpaca as a pet for her son.
Anyway, while I was in TX one of the people I got to see was my friend Ann, who I met in college and taught how to cook and sew. This time, I taught her to knit. Her first lesson was the mantras:
"Hobby store yarn is only for practicing and learning."
"Do not waste your precious skills and time knitting something for someone using acrylic or other petroleum-based synthetic yarns."
"There is nothing shameful about being a yarn snob."
"Natural fibers are awesome."
So, after she understood those mantras, I showed her
how to cast on and knit. We then went to a HipKnitsHouston meeting at the Central location. There we met some lovely and friendly ladies, who mostly seemed to be transplants to Houston. One of the ladies, Kelly of Kelp!, was making this beautiful sweater out of Malabrigo yarn from a project in Knitting Nature. It was so soft that I just wanted to roll in it like a cat. Anyway, everyone at the meeting was amazed at the knitting prowess of my star student. Her stitches were really straight and had even tension, AND she didn't even drop a stitch! I think she's a natural...or....is it because I am an awesome teacher? ;)The next day, I decided to take a field trip to one of the few yarn stores in Houston, Nancy's Knits. I ended up hanging out and chatting at the store for a couple of hours with the very welcoming and friendly Nancy (owner) and Michelle (regular customer). The shop is a small shop stocked well with all sorts of yarn -- a little something for everyone. Some of the yummy yarns Nancy carried include Fiesta, Noro, & Cherry Tree Hill. I showed Michelle and Nancy the projects stuffed in my giant purse and they admired my hand-painted yarns in my clapotis and the scarf for Linh. I bought myself some 5" #7 dpns by Lakewood and a skein of Berroco Ultra (50/50 alpaca/wool) in a deep red for Ann. After the store trip, I visited Ann again -- she wanted to make a baby hat for a gift for the next day! Talk about ambition! Ann then learned to purl, decrease, make tassels, pom-poms and bind off. That night, I made a baby hat with the Berroco for Joshua, Ann's large 9 mo old baby, and Ann will be using the rest of the yarn to make Josh matching booties.
I should call Ann and tell her that she should get an alpaca as a pet for her son.
Labels: knitting
posted by Anne at
9:40 AM
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3 Comments:
Wow, you must be a good teacher! That bodes well for your class. :)
a little of both...great teacher...great student!
You're just an awesome teacher!!!!
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