Reunited!

This past week has been a whirlwind of activity chez Fradenburgh. On Friday, John’s son, Cliff and his lovely girlfriend Kris arrived for the weekend. Then on Saturday, John’s son Dan and his sweet girlfriend Kiwi arrived for a visit from Taiwan. We haven’t seen Dan in person in almost 10 years! It was a wonderful visit. Kiwi taught me some Chinese calligraphy, and I can actually form a few words. I made a turkey dinner, as he has lamented over the years about missing Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. Kris, John and Cliff set up the Christmas tree and we exchanged silly presents (most of which were purchased at Parky’s). For those who know the size of our home, you’ll appreciate how “cozy” it was with all six of us eating meals together. There was no room to manoeuvre in the kitchen once we were seated. The weekend went by so quickly. Cliff and Kris had to return home on Sunday, and Dan and Kiwi left for home on Monday evening. John and I have been catching up on our beauty sleep the past few nights. It seems so quiet here without the boys around.

Now for the knitting content. The Stashbusting Class was a great success. I don’t think I have taught a more engaged group of students. We have about 30 pounds of yarn to be donated to Land O Lakes Community Services, and our stashes are now a little bit lighter.

Donated yarn

The participants were shown how to combine different yarns to make an odd ball sweater, how to sort and catalog their stash, and how to knit a mitred square and then make a sweater or cardigan from several joined squares.

Our next workshop is an introduction to Entrelac on Saturday February 21st from 11:00 am until 2:00 pm. This class is almost full, so be sure to register soon. All participants must know how to pick up and knit stitches and pick up and purl stitches, and be able to make the standard decreases (SSK and k2tog), and the standard increase (M1). I will not be teaching how to do these techniques at this class, so brush up on them before coming. I don’t want to sound like an ogre about this, but if you aren’t comfortable with these techniques, this class may not be for you.

Continuing on in the crankypants theme, please don’t register for this class and then not attend. These classes are free, and the participation is limited to a maximum of 8 people. I had 9 “confirmed” participants for the Stashbusting but only 5 attended. There were some disappointed knitters who wanted to attend, but I told them the class was full. As a result of this, I’m considering charging a fee of $10 to reserve your spot in a class, then giving you a credit for the yarn shop when you attend the class. If you don’t attend, you forfeit your $10. This Entrelac class will be the deciding factor whether I institute a fee or not.

March’s free workshop is the Introduction to Ravelry, and in April we’ll have a class on Steeking. Registration is open for these classes now. Have a great week, and see you on Thursday for sittin’ and knittin’.