Fricknits

Crazy Teacher Tricks

Ok, so we're not as cute as kittens, but when report card comes to shove, and picking up the countless (capless) markers, old homework assignments, dog-eared novels, and rubber bands from the floor gets to be too much...When you've attended more graduation-related events than you can count on your knitting-starved fingers (and this is only sixth grade, folks) and you still have that damn curriculum map to turn in and the business office wants your supply orders for 07-08 and the nurse asks you to get a required-by-DC-law chest x-ray done even though you suspect this might not be good for the baby, and three parents have emailed to ask if they can pretty-please have another copy of that poetry anthology that you handed out to the kids at the end of the year for their "memory books" and also by the way- hey!- you've got a family at home and a vacation to pack for and bills to pay and you've been wearing the same pants for three damn days...  Well, that's the time you turn to your best teaching buddies for comic relief.  Thanks, Tim.

...and you thought I was just holding out 'til that Big Wool sold, didn't you?
Actual knitting content tomorrow!  Yes, tomorrow!

Big Wooty Weekend

We've got a wedding to attend in NYC this weekend, and this is a big deal.  The Biscuit will be safely tucked away in Grandma's House of Wonders Where Anything Goes Except Food Outside of the Kitchen, and though recent events have made Mr. Frick and me even more apt to miss the little scamp even ten minutes after he's put to bed, we both know a little couple time is in order.  There will be hand holding.  There will be a marked decline in the cutting-food-into-tiny-pieces at dinner.  People, there may even be loitering.  And there will be room in my bag for stashquisitions!  I've canvassed two folks whose opinions I value, and therefore plan to hit both Purl and School Products.  Woot!  And look!  My wedding knit is finished!

This is the Little Lace Shrug from Lace Style.  I knit it up in KnitPicks Andean Silk in the color Sangria, and it took just over two balls and three days.  I was worried about it for a while, as it looked all baggy and weird when I first tried it on.  Then I seamed up the armholes another inch (3 1/2 " instead of the called-for 2 1/2) and added the border, and huzzah and woot again!  It fits perfectly.  Just right to wear over my standard maternity party dress.  (And by "standard" I mean "sole.")  Here's the back shot:

All that remains is to make lists.  Lots of lists.  I think I have blogged about this before: the list-making that must take place when traveling either with young children, or without young children for whose happiness (a.k.a. What He Will Eat, Routines That Can't Be Tampered With, Surefire Stop-Tantrum Fixes, What He Means When He Says XYZ)  you must still be accountable. And of course there is the obsessive combing-over of the pattern stack to find the just-right projects to take along.  I will be riding up Friday morning in a minivan chock full of (full-grown) boys.  Some pointy sticks may come in handy.

Of course, this is a big weekend for a lot of you who will be attending the MDSW Festival.  Have a blast!  I, of course, am sorry to miss it, as it was the Big Blogger Meetup last year that finally convinced me to jump into the blogpond myself.  (Thrice-lucky woot! I must be having a bloggiversary soon.)  Beth will be there with four of our students from last year, and she's organizing a scavenger hunt for them.  They'll be in teams of two, each with a digital camera.  So far, here's what we've come up with:  longest line, prettiest yarn (Beth being the ultimate judge), cutest animal, and most people actively knitting that can be captured in one photo.  If you have other suggestions for Beth, she really wants to hear them!  You can leave in the comments or over on Numerical Knitting.  I'm sure you creative cats can come up with something!   

Autumn Mix

Here's another great thing about knitting: once someone's got the basic knit-and-purl down, everything else is a piece o' punkin pie.  Witness Hanny, the double-point virgin, who came to visit this weekend with a deep yearning to learn the ways of the twice-pointy sticks:

God, she's cute.  One Ann Budd handy pattern, one-and-a-bit balls of stashed Mission Falls 1824 Wool, and one day later, she's even cuter in her "Autumn Mix" topper.  (Hubby Eddy, unwise to the ways of the knit, observed, "You're sitting there, hardly even moving, and then suddenly boom! There's a hat!")  Why Autumn Mix, you might wonder?  Well:

See the connection?  No?  Well, far be it from Hanny to keep you guessing.

Cue Alice Cooper

It's All Greek to...Someone

Thursday and Friday were our end-of-year retreat.  So while the kids did this:

I did this.  Repeat after me: Grade an essay, knit a round.  Grade an essay, knit a round.  Grade an essay, knit... you get the picture.  And in case you don't, here is the picture:

 

Now, grading essays is pretty much drudgework, but these kids, these kids I adore, they do their darndest to lighten my load by inserting little pearls of wisdom and wit into their writing.  I thought you might enjoy learning a bit about what they've discovered in their studies of the Greek gods and goddesses. 

"The cult of Hepheastus originated in Asia Minor and eventually came to grease."

"Apollo had a nickname which was Fart-Darter because his arrows carried plagues onto mortals to punish there immortal acts."

"Apollo was a person full of reasoning, nobility, form, action, apprehension, and beauty.  He was also the leader of the Muses who defied him as patron of intellectual pursuits.  Their ideas formed the basis of our educational value."

"Apollo disliked anyone who was mean to his mother.  So one day he slew the Python with his bow and arrow."

"If there was no Aphrodite maybe we wouldn't have extramarital affairs."

"No one is really sure if Aphrodite was a real goddess or if she was a myth, but all the myths about her tell how she was born and everything that happened in the rest of her life, so it seems that she could have been a real goddess."  (I love the logic in that one.)

"Sadly, Aphrodite was a prostitute."

"Hades is always busy all the time.  Like he has to sort the good from the bad and control and organize every thing.  So Hades does have an important job."

"Hades had no big myths and other gods did not let him go to any rituals. A lot of people called him the god of few words.  That is because he did not speak to much.  As you see Hades had a lot of nicknames." (Do you see it?  Is it me?)

And finally, I'll leave you with this to ponder:

"A lot of people say that the afterlife has long gone or has it?  So the mystery continues on the ancient land of Greece and the land of the dead."

A+, every one.

Coming soon to Fricknits: broken resolutions (stop that snickering, there) and baby blanket goodness.

To Sir, With Yarn

Dear Jared,

We were wondering how you got into knitting. We have a knitting class every Tuesday after school from 3:15 to 4:00. At first we were hesitant to join the knitting class because it doesn’t always seem like a “boyish” activity.  We decided to give it a try anyway.  Now we all LOVE to knit and find it one of our favorite hobbies.  We can hardly wait until Tuesday each week and are excited to learn new knitting techniques as our skills develop.  We have some questions for you:

• Have you ever felt different because you knit and you’re a man?
• Have people ever insulted you because of your hobby and your gender?  If so, how do you deal with it?
• Did you have a knitting teacher?  If so, was your teacher male or female?
• Do have any other hobbies that could be considered “girly”?
• One of us is going to an all boys’ school for middle and high school.  He also wants to bring his knitting to school sometimes, but he might get insulted.  Do you have any tips on avoiding insults from people?

We also have a few knitting-related questions:

• What is your favorite project to knit?
• Do you know any good websites or books to get cool patterns from?
• What was the longest it ever took for you to knit a project?

From,

Colin, Jake, Brandon, and Evan

Click here to read Jared's response.

It's All Fun and Games...

...until someone loses a dpn.

That was the "class motto" I came up with for, but didn't submit to, one of the contests we held on our last day of after-school knitting yesterday.  The motto that won the popular vote?  "Knitting can end in peace and harmony, or vicious needle fights."

Other games included How Long Can You Balance a Knitting Needle on Your Head while Being (gently) Taunted and Drop This Ball of Dishcloth Cotton into a Bucket Two Stories Down, Avoiding Beaning Kindergarteners, which Causes a Deduction in Points.

However, my favorite contest by far was the Kniterick.  Check these out:

There once was a boy named Danny/ His knack for knitting was uncanny/ He knit a long shawl/ and stood proud and tall/ And wrapped it around his wee fanny.

Carley was a fine knitting fellow/ She knitted a sweater of yellow/ She knitted and purled/ and fitted and furled/ but it never fit onto her cello!

There was a young lady who knit/ It kept her from having a fit/ She knit with her toes/ and purled with her nose/ And didn't think a thing of it!

And finally, A Tragic Yarn:

An eager child grabbed at a skein/ She twisted again and again/ A clumsy baboon/ She wound up a cocoon/ And that's how yarn drove her insane!

Oh, how I'm gonna miss these kids.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a conversation about knitting and gender between a few of my boys and Jared of Brooklyn Tweed.

The Three Thousand Dollar Bag

There's more potential in a few skeins of yarn than I ever, in my pre-knitting life, could have possibly imagined.  Case in point: the three thousand dollar bag.  I'll tell you the "punchline" first so that we can get to the good stuff- more photos.  Between a charity sale of knitted items at which these bags went like hotcakes and three "knitting parties" that my teaching pal Beth and I hosted for kids at my school, these little carryalls that no one can resist brought $1,400 for Maison de Naissance, a birthing center in Haiti, and $1,500 for financial aid at our school.  Yep.

Hosting a knitting party is easy-peasy.  Gather your supplies (see above).  Assemble enthusiastic knitters:

Snacks are a must. I recommend the coconut cupcakes highly, especially as I did not have to bake them.

Move the party outside after snacks.  A change of scene is a real motivator.  Besides, you want to see that mohair a-sparklin' in the sun.

   

And so it goes.  From these humble beginnings...

...to 14 babies who will receive all of their vaccines. 

What a beautiful bag.

 

The Kids Are All Right

So I think I've mentioned that I'm a teacher.  I teach Grade 6 Language Arts and this year began an after-school knitting class that ballooned from 16 to 32 kids seemingly overnight.  It's highly likely that my classroom now contains more skeins of yarn than copies of Bridge to Terabithia (admit it, you cried).  In the space of a few months these kids have learned to knit, purl (they call themselves KITS and PITS- Knitters and Purlers in Training), cast off and sometimes on, read a pattern, work basic increases and decreases, and generally make good lookin' stuff.  I have learned that WOTA is a great "Everyarn," how to pick up countless dropped stitches, myriad methods of fudging it, and that, while everyone can learn to knit, not everyone can do it without asking a bajillion questions all designed to get the teacher to do it for him/her and having the eventual result of said teacher entertaining fantasies featuring double-points and eyeballs.  A-hem.

But those that can really can!  Check these two out.  Those are Branching Outs.  Note the lifelines.  Clever girls.  They're using Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece and size 6's, and this is their first lace project.  I think it's killing 'em a bit that they can't do this one in front of the tube, but they're far enough along to realize that every knitter worth her salt needs more than one project OTN anyway.

And then there's this guy.  He's sort of a celebrity around here because he's a total knitting tornado.  Here he is with his Boogie.  Taught himself the cables and is almost finished, despite the fact that I handed over the yarn and pattern a week ago.  Did I mention there were boys in this knitting class?  Like, 14 of them?  My minions, they are.  And yes, I have dealt with two fathers who do not like their sons knitting.  And both boys are still knitting.  Minions 2, Gender Roles Police 0.

Stay tuned: FO report tomorrow...Picovoli is blocking her way into Fricknits history as I write.  I so want to love her.  Will she live up to her promise?