What students have been doing this summer

Tuesday Sept. 22 was the last day of summer and the last summer knitting clinic. I hold these each summer for students who want to continue to get knitting help and be with other knitters during the summer. This summer I had 4 clinics, 2 morning ones and 2 evening ones. Each group met once a month.

Summer clinics provide an opportunity for students to make new friends, see what students from other classes are doing, and in general have fun! Two of my summer clinic students who are in different classes during the fall and spring, discovered they both live in the same neighborhood and now walk together several times a week. How neat is that...knitting "begets" exercise!

Several groups from the spring and fall classes decided to get together for lunch during the summer and graciously invited me to these get-togethers. Lots of good food and conversation!

Don't let anyone tell you that knitters don't knit during the summer...my summer clinic students have been very busy this summer with their various projects. Here are some pictures:

Ann has been working on a cardigan with an "antler" cable running down the fronts and sleeves. She's occasionally "butted" heads with those antlers but has persisted and is doing a great job!









Ebbie has been making the "learn to knit Fairisle" pullover that I designed a few years ago. At first she was pulling the unused yarn too tightly across but has now mastered the right "Fairisle touch" and it is looking so beautiful!

P.S. You'll have to ask Ebbie the "secret" to having so many colors without too many yarn ends to deal with!





Ellen has started the "Panels Baby Blanket". The yarn and colors are so soft and sweet...and she is doing so well as a fairly new knitter!

I designed the "Panels Baby Blanket" because so many students were having trouble with blanket patterns that called for a large number of stitches (think 120 and up...)with a pattern stitch. When they would make a mistake and need to fix it, they would have to pull out a zillion stitches and get very discouraged. So I designed the pattern to try out different stitches in "smaller doses". Each panel has only 30 stitches...not so over-welming when a mistake is made. 4 different patterns can be used, one in each panel, or one pattern stitch can be used for all 4 panels. Several other students are working on this pattern and seem to like it. I have even made just 1 panel for a scarf. Here are some pictures of my first Panels Baby Blanket:





Emily has been working on a pretty afghan with alternating blocks of knit and purl stitches. She's making headway in what I'm sure will become a family heirloom.






Merry has been working on the "Big Needle, Little Needle" afghan. It looks so wonderful in the varigated yarn she is using and she is doing a marvelous job!











Marion and Jean have been making the "Cable Pullover":

Jean knit the shoulders together in class this week and Marion started sewing the side and sleeve seams. They both look excellent!

So, dear knitters, summer knitting is alive and well in Baltimore!

Mary, who is now "revving up" for fall classes and lots of knitting!

Hospital Comfort Knitting

Recently I was in the hospital for several days after surgery. The first couple of days I was pretty groggy but by the 3rd day I woke up WANTING to KNIT! I had not brought any knitting with me because I knew I'd be hooked up to an IV and with every surgery I've ever had, getting the IV line into my tiny veins has been a real pain...literally! So, I was afraid to move the hand that had the IV in it too much. But...I REALLY WANTED to KNIT, figuring it would be soothing and a nice diversion from being in "not one of my favorite places". (Not that the nurses, doctors, techs, etc. weren't wonderful...they were all very efficient and caring.) But then, who ever wants to be a patient in a hospital??

So, I asked my nurse if she thought I would pull my IV out by knitting. She guaranteed me that it was in there securely and even added some more tape to secure it even more and told me to get my knitting! So, I called my dear Max and described which knitting bag to bring over when he came that afternoon.

Oh, the comfort and joy of picking up those needles and yarn! I have to believe it helped in my recuperation! Of course I couldn't knit for hours on end because I had been told that the quickest way to "get home" was to take lots of walks in the halls. And, I definitely wanted to get home to my Max, my kitty Mittens, my I-pod touch and computer and ALL my knitting projects! So, I happily alternated between walking and knitting with some reading thrown it. I had even brought a small MP3 player that I had put some knitting podcasts on and listening to those was delightful also.

So, what was I working on while in the hospital? The "Remember Cardigan" a free pattern on the Berroco website: http://tinyurl.com/nrjg3n . Picture below:
At the bottom of the body of the sweater and the sleeves I started with a scalloped edging to "dress" it up a bit and give it a "Mary" touch:

While you're on the Berroco website ( http://berroco.com/ ), check out their free patterns by clicking on the patterns tab. Also, they have a great weekly newsletter that you can sign up for that usually has a free pattern. I've made several of their free projects : the Wedge scarf ( http://tinyurl.com/m7hu3x ), the Toshiko scarf which one of my students is also currently making ( http://tinyurl.com/mfgjrc ), the Strozi necklace (http://tinyurl.com/l76e9m ) and the Pilar sweater ( http://tinyurl.com/lylk88 ).

Well, I'm happily home and pretty well recovered, although I may have to have another surgery in a few months. I will be sure and pack some "hospital comfort knitting". Dear knitters, have any of you experienced "hospital comfort knitting" either while a patient or to relieve the stress of waiting for a loved one to have surgery or other procedure? Tell me your comfort story, please. Either post a comment or email me at: notesfromknitclass@gmail.com . I'd love to hear from you.
Mary, joyfully knitting and computing from my porch by my pond (see photo at top of this post)---a very soothing place to recuperate.

A P.S. to yesterday's post--discovered some new videos

I discovered after posting yesterday and "poking around" on the Jimmy Beans website (http://www.jimmybeanswool.com/ ) that they have some neat videos. So, I've added them on the left bar on "knitting videos for you to watch".

Just click on the video you want to watch and it will open up right on the blog.

When you're finished watching click on the words "I'm done watching this" at the top of the video screen. That will close that video so you can then watch another one!





Lynn, our favorite "weaving in ends queen", this one is for you!!!












There are so many wonderful videos about knitting techniques all over the internet, so dear students, now you can keep learning in between classes...and maybe teach the teacher ( me! ) a new trick or two!
Mary

Look what I found!

I just put this nifty little gadget on my sidebar: a calculator to figure out how much yarn you will need for various projects.
Look for it on the left bar and click on it to take you to the calculator.
When you get to the calculator, just click on the various "arrow heads" to choose your options, then click on "Calculate".
Here's a picture of it "in action": (Click on the picture to see it more clearly)


It's on the Jimmy Beans website: http://www.jimmybeanswool.com/. A really neat website!
While you're on it, check out the "free patterns". Isn't "Huck's Hat" adorable?

Let me know how you like this new feature I've put up. Any questions about it, feel free to email me at: notesfromknitclass@gmail.com .

Happy Labor Day knitting!
Mary