Yesterday I took the train down to Philly (a very pleasant ride) and then walked the mile from the station over to Loop. It went very smoothly, except for the fact that Loop was on one side of the Philadelphia Marathon route, and the train station was on the other.
I waited for about 20 minutes, but the crowd of runners didn’t seem to be coming to an end. Finally there was a break in the action and I scooted across the street with my heavy suitcase on wheels – more winded by my sprint than most of the runners were after 26 miles. Sad.
Loop is just exceptional.
On Saturday I taught at Knit a Bit – another exceptional shop in Westfield, NJ – and Sue (one of the owners) and I were chatting about What Makes A Shop Good / Successful? Both of us agreed that it all comes down to the staff. Loop is an excellent example of this – although the shop is small by out-of-city standards, it’s a very good size compared to what I’m used to! The selection is terrific and the staff is kind and supportive. Craig does a great job of making folks feet at home, but also keeping the atmosphere business like (in the kindest way.) I admire that.
My classes were filled with enthusiastic, daring and dilligent workers – the BEST kind of students – and that makes my job SO easy! I spent more time on my chair than I probably should have (my not-very-well-thought-out strategy of walking a mile on my newly turned ankle was a mistake…) but still got around to everyone, and was gratified to see how beautifully all were doing. I was so flattered that one of my past students from the Wire class I recently taught at Loop returned with her knitting husband (he is amazingly accomplished!) – the Combination Knitting Class was a birthday gift for him, and – as I said – I was truly flattered! Happy Birthday Stuart!!
The wire class was a BLAST! The chemistry between the class members was amazing – everyone was supporting each other, lots of praise and BEAUTIFUL bracelets being made, the positive vibes were strong enough to change the weather! It’s unusual to teach the class when EVERYONE finds something beautiful in what they’ve done, and that is pure joy for a teacher! My only regret was that we didn’t have more Twist & Loop books available (we sold out quickly!)
it became obvious to everyone in the class that knitting with wire isn’t as scary or hard as it may look. If you exaggerate your motions – act as though you’re teaching someone to knit – then you can give the wire the pretence of elasticity and make the whole adventure a bit easier.
Everyone also took to the mini-combo lesson that I gave (I like to introduce that in the wire class – I believe that Combination knitting makes working with wire a little easier) and that helped quite a bit.
Now I’m home for a bit – lots of packing to do, projects to finish and a whole bunch of cooking! Hannah heard a commentary on Morning Edition today about baking and love, and she desperately wants to have some quality mom / baking time this weekend. The kids have half days on Tues and Wed this week, so I think we can arrange that!
What is this goat?