...teach a man, er, woman to fish, er, knit...

My coworker, Wen-Shu, has been hinting that she would like to learn to knit. She is the super-generous soul who gave me that great yarn, and she was also the enthusiastic recipient of the toque I made last weekend. Today I remembered to bring her some yarn and needles. At lunch time, class was in session.

I cast on and knit a couple of rows for her to get her going. It seems to me that the cast on and first few rows are usually the most difficult and if someone is going to get disappointed or discouraged with their progress (or seeming lack thereof) the beginning is the place it will happen. We'll cover cast-on in future lessons.

I demonstrated both "English"/throwing and "Continental"/picking styles (I use Continental myself) and she felt more comfortable with continental. Within a half hour she had about 10 rows knit, and her stitches were really even.

My nefarious plan was a success She was hooked...

I present to you Wen-Shu, the newest knitter in the bunch:

(all pictures from my cell phone... apologies for the quality)

She took to it like a fish to water (or a natural crafter to a new craft if you will). This is her progress after about 15 minutes. I'm not even kidding. I didn't have to show her twice how to make a stitch.


Either she is really a natural or I am an A-MA-ZING teacher... (It's not the second option)

Now, the thing about this next picture. It was quiet today. This is very unusual. I haven't had a stretch of quiet like this since I started at this job over a year ago. It's nice but hard to fill the time in work-approved ways. You know? Our office is set up so that our backs are to each other and our L-shaped desks are kitty-corner (or catty-corner if you'd rather) to each other. In the middle of the afternoon Wen-Shu asked me to tell her if our manager was coming. I turned around and she was ... well, take a look.



Yes, my work here is done. Doesn't that warm your knitterly heart? You can imagine how much I'm enjoying having someone at work who is going to share my obsession....

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Update: I heard from my sister-in-law this afternoon that Mom is being moved to the small town hospital just down the road from home. This is good because she will be able to have more visitors, and also then we won't have to scramble to be able to have someone stay with her all the time. We are working on plans to figure out who will stay with her when. I'm hoping to go home to see her in the coming week. My younger brother and his family will be there tomorrow through the weekend.

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Update the 2nd: When I posted the picture in yesterday's post, I didn't notice the disembodied hand look of the picture... I only noticed it after reading several comments about it, and then when I looked at it that was all I could see!!! eeek. I don't think I could have set that up to look so strange if I had tried.

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Not an update, but further evidence of Wen-Shu's crafting mojo: She hand-sewed this little puppy over the weekend from an old towel. It's like finding a kindred spirit, people. (Pattern found here at All Sorts)

Is this not the cutest little thing ever?? Look at his cute little face!!


I wish I had made him... I'm going to give it a try too.