Friday, November 14, 2008

Six weeks or more...

Where does the time go? I drafted this post some time ago, and when I got back to it, at least six weeks have gone by! I do have knitting progress to report, and other thoughts as well... I'll start with these items and catch up in the next (soon!) post.

At my Build Your Skills class with Rebecca at Village Yarn & Tea, and in other knitting conversations, we have had several discussions about movies to watch while knitting. We have discussed criteria such as:
  • no crying on the knitting in progress
  • doesn't require complete attention (knitting, after all, is the first priority)
  • maybe not too intense (could change yarn tension)
  • see the movie ahead of time to be sure it fits criteria
  • and so on.
As far as movies themselves, I've been keeping a list as people have suggested them. Here's the first dozen:
  1. Pride and Prejudice
  2. Persuasion
  3. Sense and Sensibility
  4. Emma
  5. Mansfield Park
  6. Northanger Abbey (my least favorite, but I liked PBS' latest production)
  7. Jane Eyre
  8. Miss Potter
  9. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
  10. The Jane Austen Book Club
  11. Becoming Jane
  12. Ever After

My DVD library has at least two productions of each Jane Austen, and I admit to having my favorites. These never get old for me. Sometimes you can even spot a detail, color, or style to inspire your knitting.

In October, I was thrilled to be able to help my sister-in-law, Gail, give my 15 year old niece, Emily, a knitting birthday party. Gail provided each girl with a pair of knitting needles and a skein of Cascade 220 - and had a beautiful array of colors for them to choose from. I provided a choice of a hat or a scarf pattern and knitted a sample of each for trying on at the party. Naomi and Melinda agreed to assist with knitting knowledge and inspiration and the five young guests arrived full of chat and fun that was a joy to see. Nearly all had some level of knitting experience, as well as interest, and they all gamely cast on (with some help and three different techniques) and began to knit. At least two hadn't yet learned to purl, so we showed them how. And most did not have much confidence in their skill, even when they were not making any errors. Once all were knitting, Emily asked her mom to put in the Ever After DVD, Gail served the popcorn, and the knitting experience echoed what we've been talking about at my class. Here I am with Emily - we're modeling the hat and scarf samples. When the parents began to arrive to pick up the girls, they each departed reluctantly with final instructions about how to finish. I hope they will find the community in knitting that I enjoy so much!

Since then, Emily has finished her green hat and two more. She reports that at least one friend has finished after Emily answered her question about casting off. Emily has now excitedly knit her gauge swatches and begun socks of lovely soft yarn gifted to her by Naomi. Emily came to my house on Veteran's Day since she had the day off and her parents were both working; she brought her knitting and the newest version of Persuasion. Emily wound balls of yarn (she loves the swift and ball winder - she would have wound my entire stash if I had let her), we blocked a lace wrap I had completed, and watched Persuasion. Neither of us were ready to stop by the time her Dad arrived to pick her up.