Sunday, September 30, 2007

September 30

I can't believe that September is already gone. I've been back to work for just over a month and it seems like both forever and like I just got back. Work is severely cutting into my knitting time!

I was invited last week into a third grade class to talk to the students about my life as a reader. The teacher was looking for an adult to model to the students how reading is a important part of his/her life. I had such a great time with this. I organized my talk into three parts, my childhood and teen age reading, how reading helped me with an interest- knitting (no surprise here!) and what I read as an adult. This is a inclusion class where one third of the students have a form of autism called Aspergerger's Syndrome. The rest of the students are mostly minority students, many new comers to the US and struggling with English.

I showed the kids my knitting books and explained how my grandmother taught me to knit but that she never had the opportunity growing up in Italy to go to school so she was totally illiterate. They were fascinated looking at pattern books and seeing that the socks and sweaters came from them! I was able to explain how I could expand what my grandmother taught me by reading and sharing with other people by writing what I know.

We had such fun especially when I told them stories about how I got into trouble sneaking to read books in school when boring lessons were going on! One little boy who really has trouble with conversations responded more then his teachers have ever seen him do before. He wanted to know if my mother is still telling me to stop reading and go outside and play in the fresh air!

I went on a kitchen and catering house tour in Bayhead, NJ yesterday with my mother and two of my sisters. The homes were beautiful but some were so perfect and decorated that they seemed so cold. One house really seemed like a home and appealed to me because the owner was obviously into crafts and had some beautiful needle points and quilts around. There were also pictures of young children in beautiful knit items so I wondered if she also knit. None of these home looked like anyone actually lived in them or that they grew with the families!

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Kauni Addicted

I can't believe how long it is since I last posted! I am back at work AND I started the Kauni rainbow colored sweater that Stephanie from the Yarn Harlot did a while ago. Yesterday I finished the body and this morning I got up early and sewed and CUT all the steeks. Now I've got he first sleeve started so I have hours more of mindless knitting ahead of me. I love to knit but for some reason this sweater has the ability to just suck me in for HOURS of knitting time. I expect to do one row and hours later I'm in a panic because it is so late and I need to do stuff before I start the commute-work-commute cycle again! I love my job but I resent the amount of knitting time it eats up.

I still can't find the cord to attach my camera to the computer and my home phone charger. I'm sure they are resting in some obvious spot and will only resurface when new ones are purchased and the packaging is tossed. I may have to humble myself again and ask my daughter to show me how to email a picture from my phone! (after I take a car ride to recharge the cell phone!)

Well, I off to a birthday party and I hope I get a few hours of knitting in there!