Smiles & Frowns

When I'm teaching certain techniques I tell my students that each purl st is really made up of 2 parts, a smile and a frown. While technically this is dubious (the smile and frown next to each other aren't exactly from the same st, but each pur IS made up of 2 parts) it gets the idea across. I tell them to think of each purl st as bipolar.

But they're not really bipolar - ups and downs are part of every life, and purl sts don't feel it any more drastically than the knit sts do. I guess they just show it more.

The last two days here at Lambikins have been so lovely! I've taught some amazing students, became acquainted with Molly, the amazing greeter doggie (her birthday was today - shout out to Molly!) spent some time bonding with my new long-lost sister Sara and got to experience Christine's beautiful silk yarn, Passion, (which I may use in a colorwork skirt for the Romantic Knits book - I washed a swatch last night and it's glorious!)

The Frown
Every time I teach I try to better myself as an instructor. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don't. When I lose a student in a class I feel so miserable (if they come back I kill the fatted ball of yarn...) and my mission is to deal with the things that I can affect and not get lost in stuff that I'm not able to impact. Hey - maybe those AA cookies are getting the message through? One day at a time.

The Smile
One of the nicest thing to happen this weekend was a the woman who came by with her Circular Shrug for me to see. It was SO lovely - I was so proud of her! This is just about the best thing you can do for a designer - show them something you've made in their pattern, and tell them that you enjoyed working it up. I felt like a star - and was so thrilled and gratified! Thank you SO much, Jean - your shrug is magnificent!

Tonight I speak at the Middletown Knitting Guild, at the Middletown Public Library at 7:00. I love guilds, I love meeting the women and experiencing the love that knitters have for each other. And, then, there's always dinner before... My priorities are pretty straight, n'est ce pas?