I took a little ANNIE time last night – I went to bed at 8:00. It felt very good!
Arriving at Stitch DC (Capitol Hill location) at 8:30, I parked and watched life go by while waiting for the shop to open. I knitted, I listened to my audiobook and I had some iced coffee. Ahhhhh.
One by one folks showed up, then Marie arrived with her husband and kids and several chairs. Chairs were unloaded, kids were kissed, then hubby & family drove off. Chairs were left. More folks arrived, chairs were brought inside the shop. Someone inside ran out to the store, a few other people walked in.
It was a beehive! I felt as though I were watching the start of King of the Hill. I noticed that a LOT of folks were going in, and very few were coming out…
I finally went in myself, got settled and pulled my car around back to park. Slowly the realization dawned on Marie (and even more slowly on me) that there were mucho folks in the class.
My yarn shop classes are usually between 10-16 students; my two classes at Stitch DC were 19 and 20, respectively. Yikes! Thank heaven these were amazingly quick, lively and hardworking students!
Teaching a larger group usually means cutting down on the amount of material I can get across to folks, and also being a little more MJB* than usual (or would that be SMI†?)
Coming down off of a weekend where my voice was about to go AWOL, in a room that was a trifle hot to begin with (nothin’ like DC in June…), I was just a teensy bit terrified when the classes started and folks just kept arriving (and arriving..)
Soon, though, I realized that the students were so good and so engaged that I’d be able to get through everything, with a minimum of ruler-smacking. Just kidding. No students were harmed in the teaching of this class.
Both classes went very well, especially the Circular Shrug (which can be a bear, but went surprisingly well even given the extra students!) Folks seemed very happy, I felt very good, and the best part? I didn’t have to fly out that evening so I knew I could rest.
Marie’s shop, Stitch DC, is enchanting, there’s a really NICE collection of yarns and it’s always a kick to see some kids when I’m on the road (Hi, Nora & Cole!)
But I will admit that sitting in my air conditioned car on the way back to the Sheraton at BWI felt very good, indeed!
I was so stunned to see a friend from Boston (Hey Tracy!) show up for the class that it didn’t register until 20 minutes after I saw her that it was HER! I swear, I’m so bad with the whole recognition thing, sometimes. I wish I could just remember folks as easily as I remember their KNITTING!
Back to BWI to drop off the rental car, shuttle to the hotel, then dinner in my room and blessed sleep!
Returning home this morning (geeze, my flight was early!) Gerry met me at the airport around noon and we went off to have a ‘date’ lunch together at the Happy Gnome.
SO many beers on tap, so little time…
Hannah’s liking Breakthrough, although it’s clear that it’s going to be a rough road this week getting her used to the VERY early hours and homework. I think after a few days she’ll be fine, but day #2 was rough for her. Max is enjoying his Math & Science camp, and later in the summer he has a few days at the MN Historical Society “Huck Finn” camp. Who really COULD ask for anything more?
Maybe a hammock?
*MJB – Miss Jean Brodie (Fascism notwithstanding)
†SMI – Sister Mary Ignatius