numbers on the brain

Don't you hate when you can't think of the rest of a rhyme or when a dumb song gets stuck in your head and you can't get it out? Thanks samm (see last post comment). Or the flip side when your brain is overfunctioning. Do you find that when you're knitting along, generally thinking of other things, there is a pause in your thoughts and the number 47 pops into your head, and then 48, 49. You are counting stitches unbeknownst to yourself. Somewhere in the back of your brain it's ticking off stitches that you don't even need to count. Right now I'm knitting garter stitch without having to count, just knit from one end to the other, turn and repeat. No problem, right? But my brain thinks there should be more to it than that. Stop counting! It's OK, really, we're doing fine here. I know what I am doing this time.

My J jacket is coming along but not too different than last time so I'm waiting until I have something spectacular to show you before presenting it again. I have been knitting on other projects too, small ones. I am almost finished a sample for a top down class which I am teaching on October 18 at the Unwind shop in Newmarker, ON http://www.unwindyarnhouse.com/ .Just the sleeves to finish up. I am trying a new approach. Since a lot of knitters like to do a project-based class, I am doing this top down class with aran (heavy worsted) weight yarn and a large needle so that the sample produces a cardigan for a 3 month old. Usually the class does a teddy bear sized sample. I think the students will be able to complete about half of this sweater in class. That covers all of the pertinent technical parts of a top down and leaves the plain knitting to be finished at home. Between teaching the V-neck shaping, talking about general adaptations, fitting adjustments (assuming the knitter might some day tackle an adult sweater where fit really matters a lot), and showing where the knitter can add in their own design features, it takes all of the 3 hours to get that far. I'll finish this little guy up and take it down to the store to entice unwary knitters into my class, hee, hee, said the knitting spider to the fly.

I'm also reknitting a lovely beaded mitten (http://www.cabinfever.ca/P129.html) which is really fun. I haven't done much beading, in fact this might be the first one, that's not possible is it? It is definitely the first project where I have had to string the beads and carry them along. It's easy, much easier than I thought it would be. And great results.I have all fall to knit the thumb, ha.

-Deb