Bottles of Water and a Tin Foil Jacket
I feel as though I’ve just finished a marathon – and I didn’t even carbo load before!
When last I wrote I was in Encinitas, feeling much better and preparing to drive up the coast to LA for classes. Somehow in my nyquil/theraflu induced stupor I forgot that I had a day of teaching on Friday (WHY was I thinking I had an extra ‘free day in the week?) but thankfully late on Thursday I realized my mistake!
Friday morning I was up at 5:00 to drive to LA to teach at Black Sheep Knittery. It’s a lovely place – a narrow and well appointed knit shop with a great selection and a wonderful shop owner & staff (hi Kristal & Amy!) My classes there were small – it would be hard to fit a lot of folks into the shop – but they were very rewarding and I feel that those who attended learned so much!
After a finishing class and a lace class, I hurried over to Unwind in Burbank, CA to – well – unwind! And, in keeping with my insane mental block, I forgot that I had a class there that evening. Oh, dopey me!
The class was knitting with wire, which is a very intensive class for me to teach. When I teach I’m rather like the Empath on Star Treck who absorbed others’ pain. I absorb their frustration, and try to turn it into understanding. On a topic like wire knitting, the frustration level can be high. This class, though, was pretty amazing! Everyone did very well, everyone finished at least part of their piece – and except for a few who arrived late to the class I was able to add the findings (hooks/eyes) to the necklaces so that for the rest of the weekend folks would turn up every now and then at the store with glittering, knitted baubles around their necks!
I taught 5 classes at Unwind (1 on Friday, 2 each on Sat and Sun) and, except for my Cabling without a Cable Needle class on Sun morning (you can visit the blog of one of my students, Crazy Aunt Purl for an overview of the class and a less than flattering photo of me. Let’s face it – a flattering photo of me would involve major air brushing and surgery.
3 classes of 12 folks, 1 class of 7 and 1 class of 15 – 58 folks total – a long weekend!
I stayed with Stephanie, the wonderful owner of Unwind, and had a chance to meet her great family! I didn’t see her husband much as he seems to be as busy as Stephanie is with several jobs and law school finals – but I did get to play with Mia, and she made me laugh so much! After a week+ of hotels it was nice to have some human contact!
Every day I feel better – the cold haunts me, but it’s receding so I’m happy. I will be happier yet to arrive home and snuggle into my own bed after (of course) teaching my own weekly class a few hours after I get home on Tuesday.
Did I mention that I’m late in getting my patterns to Interweave Knits? Oy.