Good things to teach kids when they're young...

In no particular order, these lessons made life with children much easier:

1. How to run for the toilet when you're going to vomit.
2. How to fasten your own seatbelt.
3. How to pour your own cereal and milk.
4. How to use the toilet plunger.

Ahhhh, memories.

Knit One!

At last... the stocking is done!

One drawback to being left-handed is that many right-handed people are intimidated at the idea of teaching handcrafts to a lefty. I taught myself to embroider as a teenager but I really wanted to crochet and knit. I finally met someone who took me on as a crochet student and I've been crocheting for more than 30 years now. Somewhere along the line, I came to think that crochet didn't measure up to the fine art of knitting. I no longer believe that crochet is the lesser fiber craft but, I did really want to learn to knit.

My friend Fran was up to the challenge; she showed me the basics and became my knitting cheerleader. It seems that I knit continental style almost the same as a right-hander. What a challenge it was to hold a stick in each hand and somehow use them to manipulate the yarn around those sticks into an interlocking fabric. Yipes. Crocheting all those years must have been a help, especially with keeping an even tension on the yarn. After knitting (garter stitch - because purling wasn't much fun) a REALLY long scarf for Fran to use as a clerical stole in the far north where she is a priest, I put away the knitting needles for a while and went back to my familiar and comfortable crochet hooks. Yet, the challenge of those pointy sticks kept calling... "Cables!"

So, I bought a pattern book for fancy dishcloths and packed my bamboo knitting needles when I went to visit Aunt Amy. My Aunt Amy was a master knitter. She also quilted, crocheted, baked and loved QVC. She gave me a cable hook and showed me how to pick up a dropped stitch. I'll always be grateful for that knitting session... it was my last visit with her.

Again, I put down the needles in favor of a crochet hook to make several baby blankets - many in maroon and orange for little Hokie babies! But there was still that nagging feeling that I was nowhere close to being comfortable with those darned knitting needles. Wouldn't you know, I really wanted to try my hand at socks!

Another friend of mine, Laura, can knit with her eyes closed. She knitted most of a sweater on a bus trip to Orlando when our children were in the band and we were chaperones. I told her I was now a novice knitter with a hankering to make socks and she said, "Come over next Tuesday."

Laura had a great idea... learn to "turn a heel" on a Christmas stocking! She had found a book with several pattern options and told me what to bring for my tutoring session. By the end of the evening, I had 26 stitches cast on to each of 3 double-pointed needles and was armed with a book shaped like a stocking.

Since that September evening I've learned to read a pattern chart, recognize when I've dropped a stitch, figured out how to wrap a stitch, k2tog and ssk! I also found a great website to get some help in the middle of the night. Check this out... Amy has loads of video clips and will patiently answer the same question as many times as you want to hit the replay button!

Thanks to all my knitting mentors, granddaughter Leah will have a stocking for Santa's visit in 2009.