Stitching Lessons

Last week, my oldest sister and her family stayed with us for a little fall break. We had a lot of fun cooking meals together, and I had a chance to share my somewhat limited knitting expertise.

After a trip to Hobby Lobby for supplies, we sat down and cast on. Even my nephew tried his hand at it, but after several frustrating attempts he decided he wasn't cut out for it.  I have to commend him for trying something that wasn't really his thing.  More later on his other stitching skills.  After a short introduction to the knit stitch, my niece ran off to work on her own, which resulted in several do-overs. By the end of their stay, though, she was knitting quite nicely. 

Having crocheted for years, my sister had some difficulty getting used to the feel of knitting, but I am proud to say that she, too, is now knitting with great tension. Not to mention, she can still crochet circles around me and cross-stitches perfectly.  We stuck to the garter stitch (knitting every row), since that's the easiest way for beginners to get started. She's working in the Continental style while my niece found it easier to knit English style.

   

Since my nephew didn't really go for knitting, my husband showed him another kind of stitching. Using fresh bananas, he instructed the family in suturing wounds. He said pig's feet would have been better but the idea of that sitting on my dinner plates at the table was a little too much for me.  They loved it, especially since the kids have been studying biology in school.  My nephew did an excellent job of surturing and knot-tying.

We had a great time and I miss them already.

Guys who knit and other cool stitchers
I'm all for dispelling the notion that any activity is just for men or women.  I found some refreshing blogs authored by the unconventional, intellectual, and sometimes cheeky. 

The Panopticon

SistahCraft
Mollywobbles

Queer Joe's Knitting Blog

Small Town Knit Guy

The Boy Who Knits

Two Sock Knitters

Knitting Linguist

The Knitting Curmudgeon
 
About the promised scarf...
In the middle of knitting my Saints scarf, I ran out of yarn and had to order more.  That'll teach me to buy only just as much yarn as I think I'll need, which is always less than what I really need.  The yarn was just delivered and I'm at the end.  In the meantime, I started and finished another scarf and enjoyed a little time off to visit family.  I've still got blocking to do, so pictures will be up later this week.