10 May 2007

Baby Knitters

Phew, what a day! I've been up since 5am - had to drive Hubby and Son to the train very early... then took Dotter to a doctor's appointment, the National Art Gallery (cos she wanted some inspiration), hydrotherapy at the hospital, grocery shopping, and have also been weeding and cleaning up for yet another house inspection first thing tomorrow. Still more cleaning to do tonight too... Am a *tad* weary. But I'm enjoying having no boys in the house!

While I was waiting for Dotter at hydro, another regular family arrived - mother with 5 (!) kids under 10. Last week her kids had been fascinated, watching me knit my pink lace shawl (Forest Canopy).

Today I took along my Short Circuit Scarf. It always gets attention when I knit it in public! Firstly an elderly woman just out of the pool had a close look at the scarf and said she'd never seen anything like it, how astonishing, and chatted for a bit (she could no longer knit due to arthritis). She had no idea you could dye wool with food colouring (I was wearing my Jaywalker green socks), and was quite amazed :)

The bevy of kids arrived shortly after. Once again they gathered around my chair, and asked if they could have a go - well, I didn't mind, seeing as it was just garter stitch and short rows - and it wouldn't be a tragedy if I had to unravel a few rows. I knew that their mum didn't knit, from what she'd said last week - so I suggested that maybe their teachers at school could show them - but it turned out they were homeschooled! So that was cool (I used to homeschool my kids - Dotter to Grade 4, and Son to Grade 10).... they're in the Christian homeschoolers group, so we didn't have friends in common (we were always in the secular "rugged individuals" camp ;) - but we still understood each other.

I then gave each kid a go at my knitting - I held the left needle, and helped them do the right needle into the stitch, yarn over, and pull it through and off. Two of the boys were really fascinated, and the eldest child, a girl of about 10, was very keen too. They were begging their mum to get them needles and wool - I said I would bring along some needles next week (I have plenty to spare) and some yarn - and will write out a few web sites and books to look for. The mum also said they could ask their Nanna, who knows how to knit...

So that was rather fun - igniting the knitting fire in a whole family at once - and I didn't even have to undo any of their knitting, they did a good job!

Anyway - here is the finished Mariah sleeve #1, waiting on its fluro shoelace for the rest of the cardy to catch up.... I'm about 6 rows into the ribbing for the back. Photo isn't great, sorry - indoors with flash...


And this is where I'm up to on my red stash-busting mitred square lap rug... I'm not bothering about whether the diagonals all go in the same direction or anything, it's just a bit of fun. It's big enough to keep my knees warm while I'm knitting it now. I'm picking up stitches along the edges when I cast on - so no seams!


And some computery news, my Adobe Creative Suite 3 upgrade arrived today and I've successfully installed it. Horribly expensive at over $600 just for the upgrade - ouch - but necessary for my Intel Inside Mac Mini, to stop the major memory handling problems that were rampant with CS2. Plus there are a few nice goodies, such as being able to use an eraser on vector images in Illustrator! W00t!

Time for steak with bleu cheese sauce (something the boys would never eat), and salad, SBS for and Inspector Rex, The Eagle, knitting, and an early night!

7 comments:

  1. Well done on the "join us" front. Very impressed with you converting Christians ;). Hope the steak was as good as it sound.

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  2. Love the lap-blanket! Lots of fun. And hooray for you for teaching the whole family! five kids under ten? My Gawd! They know what causes that, don't they?

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  3. Fun times "showing off" (and sharing!) your knitting skills with the baby knitters. You're priming the next generation of knit-happy needlers. Good going, letting them have a go.

    And now I must go ...

    Ciao!

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  4. that sounds like so much fun. And very unusual to have so many in one family intrigued at once. There should have been a photo taken!

    Blanket is look marvellously red.

    Mariah is nothing less than stunning.

    What's in your blue cheese sauce? I love the sound of that!

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  5. Anything that minimises end sewing in has got to be good - especially when it is red! Mariah looks great and yay you for converting the "heathens" (knitting heathens that is!)

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  6. oooh, the Mariah sleeve looks great!!
    How clever was Rex last night??
    I really thought he out did himself with the ketchup on his face to try to tell them about the blood, don't you?
    hehe
    And as for the eagle, I'll take a Michael focussed episode anyday!! aaah
    loving thursday night on SBS!!!

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  7. Way to go, spreading the good word!

    Another house inspection? What a pain....

    The rug is looking great. My mum knits a similar pattern but in single colour blocks. I think she'd be very inspired by yours.

    Hope the steak was good...we have vego guests this weekend and Im suddenly craving a big red meat fix!

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