Patching up – finally

When I first found the missing knit gloves that Michael had been searching for, I knew immediately that they had a few moth holes. On more careful inspection, however, I discovered there were quite a few -- some might say, many -- holes. With a bit of reframing, the situation shifted to "all the more …

Patching up

"Where are those gloves with the leather?" asked Michael when the weather turned a couple of months ago. We searched in all the usual places but came up empty handed. (Yes, that was intentional) Last week, during a fit of New Year's decluttering, I found the gloves -- in his brother Kevin's room (or should …

Getting the Hang of It

One of Mom's regular sayings when we were growing up (she had lots of them) was "anything is easy if you know how." Brother Mike and I agreed recently that we considered this perky adage downright frustrating and unhelpful, especially when we were struggling with a challenge. But I must admit, as I've realized over …

Beginner Brioche (Not Bread)

Learning the brioche stitch at local knitting guild meeting.

Calling on St. Clare

I'm teaching my dear friend Pat how to knit. To be more precise, I'm helping her refresh and expand her knitting skills since she knit a couple projects back in college. To her first lesson, she brought me a small wooden token of St. Clare, who I was surprised to learn is the patron saint …

Something New Every Day

My first attempt at learning to crochet gave me new appreciation for the challenges of my beginner knitting students.

Summer Savor

Although our children are technically no longer school-age, the calendar still "resets" on Labor Day. Kevin and Michael are back at college, having finished their first week of classes and after journeying 300 and 1,500 miles respectively. As usual, I'm filled with conflicting emotions of hope -- a new year, a clean slate -- and …

Intro to Entrelac

Over the past couple of months, my knitting focus has been on the public art, yarn bomb project at a nearby lake. While great in length (about 23 feet/7 meters in total, I think), it wasn't particularly interesting knitting. I didn't have an idea for my next project, but I was looking forward to it …

Girls Who Knit

For the past few weeks, I've been spending Monday afternoons teaching knitting to eight girls at a local after-school program. It's the most high-energy 90 minutes of my week! As always when I teach new knitters, a first lesson is to spot and then fix mistakes. Mistakes are inevitable, and if you can't fix them, you're more likely …

Knitting Mistake as Memory Marker

I've written before about the inevitability of mistakes in knitting and about the many mistakes I've made in a variety of projects. Learning to fix mistakes is one of the key steps in becoming a Fearless Knitter. I believe that every knitter has a different approach to mistakes, which can vary given the project, mood, or …

Lessons Learned on Re-Sizing a Sweater

There are lots of online tips for making a too-big sweater smaller. But as I discovered when I had the opposite problem -- a too-small sweater that needed enlarging -- there wasn't a lot of help. With a fair bit of in-person, online, and book research, I was able to figure out how to make …

Making a Too-Small Sweater Bigger

As I've mentioned previously, the sweater that I knit for Michael is finished but not done. What I really mean is, it's too small. This may have something to do with his increase in size from when I started the sweater. At the beginning of the year, he was on the high school wrestling team and …

Knitting Wirelessly

At the risk of sounding like a dinosaur (and no, I don't know what a dinosaur sounds like), I'd just like to say how awesome it is to have the Internet as a tool in my knitting teaching and learning tool kit. In a recent knitting class, Rachel was learning how to make a provisional cast-on …