Gotta knit

TENUI FILO MAGNUM TEXITUR OPUS “From one fine thread a work art is born” … Moody… 

My mom taught me to knit when I was knee high. I’m taller now, and I try to knit at least a little every day. Recently, after a 22 year career as a school psychologist, I took early retirement, and now have more time to devote to travel and other interests, principally reading and knitting. I also work part-time as a teacher and guide at 2 local history museums, where I specialize in textile arts, especially spinning flax and wool, and natural dyeing.

A big change in the lives of my husband Tony and I has been the birth of our first grandchild, Corina Catherine. What a sweetie pie! I’m not a person who loves taking care of tiny babies, but Corina I can’t resist. She’s been my magical baby since she was born on April 14. Recalling how quickly my own 2 kids outgrew their clothes, I haven’t done a lot of knitting for Ree, but recently found an irresistible sweater pattern (see Baby Corina’s Sweater on this blog) and knitted it up in 2 days. I’m now working on a larger sweater for fall and winter, which I’ll post when there’s enough progress to photograph.

I tend to read and knit in big chunks, focusing upon a narrow slice of a topic, and since this past winter have been doing lots of experimenting with socks, and patterns like spirals, mosaics, and miters. I never liked knitting with double pointed needles, so when a friend introduced me to the Magic Loop technique, I was off and running. Now I’m beginning to fool around with sock design on my own.

Gotta knit!

But………..

In addition to knitting, I occasionally do other fiber crafts, such as rug hooking (not latch hook), crewel, embroidery and cross stitch. I can remember long summer afternoons spent with my school girlfriends hanging out in the shade of our maple tree, embroidering or tatting. (Wish I could remember how to tat.)

And, I also love cats. Cats and knitting go together so well. All 3 of ours are former homeless strays who appeared in our lives and, as the saying goes, adopted us. Pictured here is Tooncy, who is 21 this year. (He’s asleep, not dead!) Did you ever notice how cats love to plop down on your knitting?