Mondays...

Summertime Mondays have been exhausting, but they've been a load of fun, and I realize that I'm really going to miss them. For the last six weeks or so, I've been spending my Mondays with My Kids -- my Kids' Summer Camp kids. Each Monday, they show up (well, most Mondays, at least). The kids under 12 come in the morning, and the kids 12 and up come in the afternoon. And I have to admit that I've kinda attached myself to the afternoon girls, Evelyn (12) and Heather (14). They've come faithfully each week (except last week, when Evelyn didn't show up and Heather freaked out), with their grandmas in tow. They've met their goal of actually finishing some projects, and they've knit some pretty cool stuff. (That, and we sit around and giggle a lot.) Next week is our last week, and I'm pretty bummed.

During our session this week, I got to teach a new "kid" -- actually a woman who came in with some needles and yarn, totally baffled by the instructions in the book she had. I've taught a ton of kids, but I've never taught a single adult (at least not "professionally"), so it was kinda strange for me. But Jan pumped me up as an "excellent instructor" (also the one who happened to be sitting on the couch at the time), so I accepted the challenge. I figured the same old kids' rhyme would work just as well for an adult as it does for a kid, so I used it, and it worked. In no time, she was knitting away. Then we ripped out her first row, and I taught her how to do the knit cast-on that my kids tend to prefer. And she was so excited (and you should have seen the excitement on her face when I walked her through the store and showed her all the possibilities!). It's always great to see a kid get excited about learning to knit -- but it's every bit as exciting to see an adult who's just as thrilled to have figured it out. I'll never get tired of hearing a new knitter tell me "This is fun!"

This week, I'm working on putting together our third-quarter newsletter. Once again, I get the same question: "So what classes are you teaching?" It's so strange to hear that question, since I don't really consider myself to be an old pro or anything. But we'll see... Maybe I'll actually teach something this time.